


Oliver Queen is Dead, Long Live Al Sah-Him

by quart1146



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Season 3 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 14:26:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5130935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quart1146/pseuds/quart1146
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of my readers from a different forum reminded me that my readers would like my prehistory of my other AU story "Normal Life is Hard for Oliver and Felicity." </p><p>This is a AU fiction that runs somewhat cannon with the show's last season after Oliver is forced to join the League of Assassins. Includes how Ra's trains & teaches Al Sah-Him a lesson in obeying by using Felicity. Story line begins after S3E20 in Nanda Parbat and better explains some things that happened in the show with AU ending. </p><p>Warning MATURE. </p><p>Warning like the Arrow writers, I am dark. WARNING MAJOR ANGST but a great ride. The CW owes all rights to Arrow and it's characters. I own my part of this competed story. Enjoy the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

  
#####OQ#####

"Al Sah-Him, eliminate this threat. Kill him. Show no mercy." Ra's ordered.

A man lies unconscious beside him on the floor, as Oliver knelt, head bowed, submissive on the outside.  

He should have been an actor, for inside, his bad knee screamed from the prone position and cold wooden floor. Inside, the pain raged, twisted his gut and stiffed his back, as he felt agony, with every beat of his heart. And his best old friend hate took one slow bite after the other eating him alive as it whispered, why couldn’t he die and get this damn life of his over with.

No, he had to stop thinking like that. He had her to go home to, and she and his friends waited for him. Thea waited too. If he could just survive this by being strong and smart.

"This man has not wronged me. I don’t even know his name." He spat the words, his control nearing its end. If this mad man believed he could break his will by keeping him on his knees, the man had another thing coming. His hate would make him stronger than the crazy man, who currently controlled his life.

“I ordered you to kill him. This is not a discussion.”

“Is there no reasoning with you? This is the 21st century, not the middle ages, and I warned you I'd given up the killing. I have no reason to murder this man, especially just because you demand it."

"The year is of no consequence, if I order you to kill, you kill. Boy, my will is your will. You will obey me!" The man slammed the sharp sword into the floor in front of him. "Now get off your knees and pick up the sword and kill him. Do it now. I command you."

"I will not kill for your sport." He jerked the sword out of the floor and threw the blade away from him, and the sword clattered on the wooden floor and bounced off the wall.

Ra's sighed and paced, back and forth before him, his ringed hands clasp behind him. "Three times I have explained that as the heir to the Demon, the league must respect you."

"I’ve told . . ."

"I didn’t not ask you to speak. As I said, in order for them to respect you, they must fear your retribution, and three times now you have failed me."

"Perhaps you chose your heir badly."

Spinning on his heel, he pointed his ringed finger at him. "Did I not say, do not speak?"

He bowed him head to the man, but it cost him.

"Al Sah-Him, a man who cannot kill will lose control of the league. Boy, why do you push me? My will is your will. When will you understand this? Speak now."

"I will find another way to control the league. They will learn to respect me. I will treat them fairly, and they will my team, my family." For an instant, he thought of Felicity, and he pushed the hate away for an instant, but he silenced those thoughts, and the hate surged back.

"There is no other way. This is the league of assassins, boy. If they do not fear you, they will destroy you, and a stronger man will step into your place."

"Then so be it."

"You are the man from the prophecy. You survived my blade, the brand, and I have chosen you to replace me. Tell me, do you think I have been head of the league all these years by not getting what I want?"

“No, but maybe I’m not the man from the prophecy. I am no longer a killer and perhaps, this a mistake. I’m clearly not the man you thought I was, and your daughter, Nyssa, who you trained for the league, would be a much better choice.”

“I do not make mistakes.” His tone sinister,

Stopping pacing, the mad man and looked into his eyes, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose, as he narrowed his dark, wild, eyes. "I had hoped it would not come to this, but you have forced my hand. Tsk, tsk, and I thought you learned this lesson with your sister, Thea."

"No harm comes to my love ones. You agreed."

“This is your doing, Al Sah-Him, and you will find when I finish with you that you have no loved ones."

A shiver ran down his spine.

"You did not want to stand and kill then you shall stay on your bad knee tonight. I will speak with you in the morning. Ponder your fate." Turning in his flowing robes, Ra’s walked away, his back straight, his hands clasp behind his back.

He wanted to scream after him, wanted to rise and chase the man and demand he tell him what he planned. His chest tightened as he wondered what the man planned, and who he planned to do it to.

The hours passed slowly on his bad knee, Ra's punishment had him near screaming in no time.

A servant came head bowed and lit candles and offered him water, which he drank greedily. His stomach growled but the servant offered no food, and he didn’t ask.

At least he didn’t have to kneel in the dark.

“Oliver is dead. I am Al Sah-Him.” Like a vow, he said the words, over and over, but his mind didn't believe him and thoughts of her crept in.

Nodding off and on, he dreamed he injured himself in the field, and she came and patched him up, with her soft hands.

Regrettably, when he jerked awake, the dream wasn't real, the pain the only reality in the short dream. As the night pasted long and slow, he barely slept. The more pasted, the more the pain in his injured knee throbbed, and he found relaxing or even resting close to impossible.

In the early hours before dawn, he switched to mediating to deal with the pain and his exhaustion but it didn’t work. His muscles cramped and at any time, he expected an ambush, an attack on his person.

As the long minutes ticked away, he wanted, craved, and needed a fight and the outlet. The anger, the hate, seeped deep into his soul and greedily ate a black, empty, hole in his gut.

But no one came.

Only the pain and exhaustion stayed with him.

Again, he nodded and Felicity crept back into his mind, but he jerked awake and purged her, shut his feelings down cold, for her loss intensified his anger, his hatred, and his misery. Al Sah-Him had to accept that her light no longer shone for him and only the darkness remained.

Yes, in some ways, the mad man had broken him, had taken everything from him, first in Starling City and now here. He'd done everything the man had asked, everything but kill for the man's sport. He'd taken the brand, survived the assassin’s gauntlet, the chains in the dungeon’s darkness and taken the repeated beatings.

The beatings helped him cope. He craved the physical pain of fighting since at least he got to fight back, and the beatings helped offset the aching hole in his chest.

Normally, pain helped him deal with the idea Oliver Queen had died and only this shell of a man remained, but tonight the pain had him near to screaming and not being able to move made it worse and reminded him of other times he had been in pain and unable to move. For a while, time ceased to exist, and he lie bleeding in a small cage in his youth.

He came back later, unsure how much later, screaming in his head. But he refused to scream out loud, for if he ever started, he didn’t think he could stop and he would fight them, fight them all to the death.

Finally, he braced his hands against the floor to relieve the pressure on his bad knee, and the door flew opened, and a large guard in full armory entered. "Off your hands, Al Sah-Him, and back on your knees. And if I have to come back in her, I have permission to beat you."

He'd known they watched him. For a man who lived in the stone age, Ra’s had security cameras and bugs everywhere.

Groaning now, he eased back to his throbbing knee, and the guard left him to wonder why he continued to allow his heart to beat. He ached to die, but he feared the pit, and that was main reason he’d fought and trained. And why he’d given Felicity up when he'd finally found his way to her.

His mind wondered to all the months he'd spent dreaming about tasting, touching, and having her, and how she'd finally been his for one short time. Like a starving man, he'd feasted, worshiped, loved and been loved.

Touching her had been glorious.

He couldn't even be angry she'd drugged him. She'd been trying to save him, trying to help him escape Ra's, so they could be together, but in the end to save her and his team, he'd honored the deal he'd struck with a mad man.

Yes, he'd sent them all away to safety, but he quickly realized he'd opened the door wide to his hate and self-destruction yet again.

In those first days, he hadn’t known if he'd survive their separation this time, and his heart hurt, every day, like an open wound. But to survive, he focused on her and John's safety, and how he never wanted either of them to be reborn in the pit.

Thea’s rebirth had been bad enough.

Yes, the miracle pit revived Thea, but it changed her. Like a woman possessed, she'd arose from the pit and attacked him, and he'd been relived when the Priestess drugged Thea. The pit had made Thea stronger, faster, and awakened some force in her who ached to kill him. He still saw his death wish in her dark eyes. Darkness and madness had claimed her in the pit and the closeness, the connection, he’d felt with her had disappeared.

Even after she'd calmed, Thea recognized him as her brother in name only. Her eyes had been lifeless and dark. Yes, his sister breathed on her own again, but the sweet, gentle Thea, he knew and loved, seemed gone. Ra's had warned him Thea might come back from the madness but only time would tell.

Now in the night's darkness, kneeling on a wooden floor, with his knee screaming, he wondered if she'd gotten better and hoped she’d healed completely, and she'd returned to her old self.

As the hours pasted on his painful knee, he hoped once more to die. He'd been here before, only this time seemed worse even than his time on the island, the boat, in China or in Russia. He again entertained thoughts about making a mistake, letting another man's sword end his misery, but he knew Ra's would drag him to the pit and revive him, and he could lose everything important to him.

Oliver Queen would truly be dead then.

The pit could erase Felicity forever from his mind. He could wake up dead inside, his love for her gone, washed away. Entering the pit could sweep away everything, her memories, their lovemaking and her light, and he would only be left a dark killer who didn't even want to return to her anymore.

He couldn't chance that fate, so he had to survive this, no matter what it cost him. A least right now he still had a tiny hope, a small glimmer, he might return to her and that small hope kept him alive and fighting.

The guard released him from knees that morning, and he could barely rise and limped his way to the bathroom, holding on to the wall, to see to personal needs. As soon as he returned to the large hall, Ra's arrived.

 "Does your knee pain you? You are slow to reach kneel this morning. A sure sign of an old injury. Slade, no doubt?"

Oliver refused to answer him. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, but sweat broke out on his brow, and he whimpered when his bad knee again touched the hard wood floor.

The man smiled down at him. "And yes, Al Sah-Him, I have been watching you for quite some time. However, the point is for you to control the pain, to push past it. Learn from the pain, boy. Pain can teach you much. What, have you nothing to say this morning?"

"Now you want me to talk.” His hands fisted, as his bad knee throbbed with every beat of his heart, tormenting him.

“I do.”

“Are planning to cripple me? You know I have an old injury. My knee is at least two times its normal size." Now, he no longer wished anyone to attack, instead he feared someone would, since his stiff knee would be a liability. Anyone could take him easily, when he probably couldn’t stand, let alone fight, on his leg.

"Of course not. No, quite the contrary, if you would obey, I would heal that knee where it would never hurt again. But for now you need to learn this lesson on pulling strength from within and centering yourself, since it is in your best interest.”

“You could fool me.”

“Al Sah-Him, you must acquire the ability to fight injured, to use your mind to ignore the pain and overpower your enemy. Speed is the key. A great warrior finishes his enemy swiftly. Now, I will give you time to reflect on my words unless you have learned your lesson and wish to kill when you are told. This is your last chance."

Ra’s hesitated, waiting for his answer. but he refused to rise to the man’s bait.

“Foolish boy, always you take the wrong path. When will you learn it is pointless to defy me?”

And mad man walked away, leaving him to his own dark thoughts, the man pretending to be Al Sah-Him knew he did want to kill, and he knew exactly whom he’d willingly kill.

#####OQ#####

Ra's swept in after a time, just when he thought he couldn’t stand his knee torturing him any more. "Do you know why I allowed you to have Felicity Smoak in your bed, Al Sah-Him?"

The mad man liked head games, and he knew it. "A condemned man always gets a last meal."

"I see your knee is getting the better of you, for you have a sharp tongue this morning. No, instead, I wished to reward your decision to take my offer with something you have long wanted and refused to allow yourself to have. I even encouraged your Ms. Felicity Smoak to visit you in your chambers, though I had hoped you would turn her away."

He refused to meet the man’s dark eyes, instead studying the wood floor pattern.

The man paced, back and forth, with his hands clasped behind his back. "But alas, you did not turn her away. Instead, you tasted, and understand I wanted you to taste, to know what you had to give up, and to bear the pain to turn it into strength."

"She’s of no matter now." His words came out harsh, and he meant them. "I sent her away. I stayed of my free will, so no harm would come to the ones I love. This is between us. She has nothing to do with this."

Stopping, he felt the man's eyes on him. "I'm afraid she has everything to do with this. I know you still think you will return to her, and you harbor that hope within you."

He steeled himself, refusing to rise to the bait, to soil their love by discussing it with this mad man, or to give this mad man any reason to believe his words true.

"Al Sah-Him, I know your weakness. You hide it but you are a man who loves and love makes you weak. As long as you love this woman, your enemies can use her against you. Women are men's downfall. Just as I used your love for Thea against you, I, or anyone else, can use your Felicity against you."

He grimaced.

"Love weakness a man. Your love for this woman is a terrible liability. You must sever all ties with her. Cut her out of your heart."

He controlled the tone of his voice, kept his mask in place. "Again this is between us. She has nothing to do with this. She is forgotten."

"Once again, you are wrong, and you are lying. Do you think I am a fool? Your woman has everything to do with this. And since, you have chosen to defy me, repeatedly. You will reap what you sow."

Oliver Queen, not Al Sah-Him, smelled her scent before he heard her, and his heart dropped like a stone.

"Get your hands off of me! I can walk by myself. Bullies, stop pushing! It wasn't like I got an invitation you know?" And with a hard shove from a hooded assassin, Felicity flew through the door, like a red bird, and burst into the room, her makeup running and holding her heels in her hands.

And his heart hurt.

No, his mind screamed. The blood pounded soundly in his ears. She should not be here, anywhere but here. He started to rise but one look from Ra's nailed him to the floor.

Panic enveloped him. He couldn't stop his fingers, as they twitched and became fists. He knew now the man planned a painful lesson, and Felicity was his Achilles' heel.

"Oliver?" her tone hopeful. She moved toward him and a hooded man drug her back and black rage engulfed him. Struggling against the man, she dropped the heels and demanded in bare feet, "What's going on here? Why have you brought me here? First these two idiots grabbed me off the street and threw me in a car and then on a plane. Oliver, I demand an explanation."

"Felicity Smoak," Ra's soft voice sounded deadly, and his stomach bottomed out. "Oliver Queen is dead. Al Sah-Him kneels before you, and you will address him as such. Now, child, I regret that I have disrupted your life, but Al Sah-Him has defied me repeatedly, and I required your presence to teach him a lesson."

"Computer question?" He couldn't help it, his eyes ate her up like a starving man, drinking her in like cool water, and he hadn’t drunk in days, as she said smartly, "You could have texted. I would have come willingly if you’d asked.”

“I don’t text.”

“Why am I not surprised? Though believe it or not texting turned twenty-five years old the other day. You’d think, as long as you’ve lived, you’d have kept up with the times or would have at least learned to text. Even my mother texts now.” She tilted her blonde head. “Well, not well but she does text. Do you even have Wi-Fi here?”

“No, child. It’s not necessary here.”

“I’m not your child, so, please, stop calling me that. It’s kind of creepy. But I could fix that for you. Not the creepy part, but your Wi-Fi, I’m quite good with computers. Wait, do you have computers here?"

Ra's laughed and turned toward him. "I have to admit she is quite delightful, Al Sah-Him. I see why you would think she is charming. May I call you Felicity, child?"

"Of . . . course. Like I could stop you? And it’s better than child."

"No, Felicity, you could not, but I regret that this visit is more of a painful nature then my lack of internet."

"What you don't realize is your lack of internet's very painful to me. I mean this isn’t the stone age, though you’ve got the medieval decorating down to a science, for sure. But I don’t understand why you’d bring me here to watch you beat him up, since, frankly, I've seen him beaten up before. Multiple times. Beaten up with bruises, bleeding, lots of bleeding," she gagged a bit, before adding, “and lots of bandages and stitches.”

So darn cute when she talked with her hands, he loved his brave Felicity staring a mad man down and babbling, but the blood rushed in his ears as the man turned to her, his grin smug.

"I fear you do not understand my intent, Felicity. He needs taught a lesson, so it is not him I intend to hit this time."

#####OQ#####

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

#####OQ#####

Felicity eyes caught his eyes for an instant, and her eyes went wide as the two large guards now closed the large doors, with a bang.

Two more men crossed the room to stand behind him and pulled their swords. Ra's knew he could take the pain, so what was his game?

“So why am I here? Oh, you can’t honestly be thinking of hitting me?”

Oh, God, no. He knew and his chest tightened and a warning screamed in his head.

“Ra’s, we had an agreement.”

“I did not give you permission to speak.”

Ra's turned his back on him facing her and clasped his hands behind his back. He shook his head. "I apologize for involving you in the messy business but it seems I must teach Al Sah-Him a lesson. And unfortunately, I need you to make sure he finally learns.”

"You wouldn't dare. We had a deal." The words were out before he could stop them. His threat clear, and Ra's spun on his heel and pointed a finger at him.

"Speak again out of turn, and I will make her bleed. Make one move to stop me, and she will not survive this, for I will gut her like your sister and this small problem of yours will be solved."

“Small problems, I’ll show you small problem. If you lay a hand on me.”

“You’ll what? You are defenseless and he cannot save you this time. And as much as this pains me, my child, well, I could beat him all day, and he would simply . . . take it.” He waved his hand.

“I’m, thankfully, not your child, and I will find a way.” She insisted defiant.

The blood rushed in his ears, and he locked his eyes with hers, trying to tell her how sorry he felt, how this was his fault.

He barked a laugh. “Cheeky little thing aren’t you? Such fire in a small frame. Shame he’s gone over the moon for you. I’d train you, but alas, you will serve your purpose.”

Ra's moved toward a small table against the wall. With great care, the man slowly removed his rings and placed them on the table, one by one, and it was Oliver not Al Sah-Him who found it had to breathe.

Moving like a viper, without warning, Ra's backhanded Felicity, and Oliver Queen not Al Sah-Him forced himself to stay on his knees. Oliver also felt pride when she snapped her head back. Her glasses flew from her face and bounced across the floor, but Ra’s lost the full force of his backhand.

"I see you have been training her, but of course, you have. Bring her here. Hold her. Do I have your attention now, Al Sah-Him? You may speak.”

"Enough! Yes, you have my attention." The words exploded from Oliver's mouth. “Stop don’t touch her again.”  His heart his heart was going to to explode in his chest. He made to rise before he could stop himself.

Ra's pointed at him. "Last warning, move from your knees, and I will run her through and you will never have to watch this again."

The man placed his hand on his sword, and Oliver in milliseconds relived seeing Thea, soaked in her own blood, gutted by Ra's, saw the doctors and nurses reviving her. Never would he would see Felicity such, ever. No matter how much agony it cost him to stay on his knees, to be helpless and watch this, that reality would be far worse.

"I swear I will NOT move," he spat the words at Ra's, as he threw his hands up in surrender and hung his head.

Frowning, Ra's shook his head. "See, boy, this is what love does to you? It makes you weaken.”

“It does not

 Al Sah-Him, you need to embrace your name. See why you must eliminate this love? Now, head up, Al Sah-Him. You will watch, and you will not look away."

Ra's turned back to Felicity, his hand still on his sword, his threat clear. "Yes, unfortunately, Felicity, hitting him would teach him nothing but making him watch me hit you, now that’s pure torture."

“You’re insane.” She pointed her finger at him.

“Maybe, I’ve been in the pit one to many times. No matter, he is going to learn this lesson or you’re going to die.”

Oliver head jerked up. Al Sah-Him now long gone, pushed away the second Ra's touched her in vain, the game over, game, set, match.

The man named Oliver and only Oliver couldn't breathe, while the Hood came out in a low and controlled voice. “Ra’s, please, I’ll do whatever you will. What do you want? Do you want me to beg? I’ll do it. I’ll beg, just don't touch her again."

"You know what I want." Ra's looked him over and then nodded at her. "You hold  great power over him, Felicity. See how easily he give his will up when it comes to you? I have barely touched you and already he begs. He has not been this pliable for me . . . ever."

"You're a monster," Felicity hissed the words at Ra's. "And I’m not letting you turn Oliver into one too. Don’t do it, Oliver. Don’t do what he wants."

"Enough! Stop! My word, Ra's, I give you my word on my honor. I will obey. What do you want? Just don't touch her, again. Please, send her home. I never want to see her again. Your will is my will. I promise. Your will is my will."

His words hard and clipped, he meant every syllable.

His blood boiled, his heart raced, but he stayed put, didn’t move, so Ra's wouldn’t kill her. He hate this that even if Ra's restored her with the pit, Felicity and her love would be lost to him, lost to the madness. Letting Ra’s hurt her had to be the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, but he didn't move.

Ra's smiled and released his hand on his sword. "I see now that I should have started with her in Starling City. She is indeed the quickest means to the end. But sadly I must be sure this is a lesson well learned."

Felicity fought against the two men who drug her back to Ra's. She screamed, "Don't you do it, Oliver. Whatever he wants, don't you dare do it! Not for me! Don't you let him use me against you!"

"Brave words, child. I understand why you chose her, Al Sah-Him, she has such fire. But three times you have defied me. Hold her."

He forced himself to breathe as his hate for Ra's almost overpowered him. He had truly returned to the Gambit, drowning and powerless, as Ra's hand lash out with a solid thud, no doubt, blackening her eye. She cried out sharply as the man’s backhand connected hard with her face, and his stomach plunged as the sound echoed through the room.

He’d returned to helplessness, thrown abruptly back to when Slade had killed his mother but this time he had no bonds to contain him, only his will to stay put.

And his will struggled to listen to him.

Yet, he knew he couldn’t take Ra's. The two of them had sparred and every time Ra's could take him. And, he understood now why the man had left on his knees for hours on end. It evened the playing field, handicapped him, just in case Oliver's love for Felicity broke through, and he could get his hands on Ra's throat and snap his neck.

His hands fisted again and again. Three times, he told himself, only one more to go. He could do this. The blood in his veins turned to ice. Dark thoughts clouded his brain. He wants me to kill. So be it. I promise I’m going to kill him. I so swear I will kill him for touching her.

Ra's turned and picked up a dagger from the table, and now, Oliver pleaded, "I will kill for you. Your will is mine. Send her home. I will kill them all for you. Just please, stop hurting her."

"I know you will." Ra's said smugly. "This lesson will be remembered by you both because my last mark will leave a scar. Which side of her face do you want it on, Al Sah-Him?" He used the blade to touch her face and turned her face from side to side. "The left or the right?"

It was the island again, with a madman pointing the gun at Shado and Sara. Slade telling him choose between killing his mother and Thea.

"I will not choose. Please don't do this! I will defy you no more! You have made your point. I will follow your will without question. Your will is mine, I swear it."

But it was his brave Felicity who picked her head up, and he was so proud of her when she looked Ra's straight in the eye and said, "It is my scar and my choice. It will be over my heart because as I told you before Oliver or Al Sah-him, whatever you call him, HE BELONGS TO ME. My love makes him strong not weak. His heart is mine and my heart is his. Do your worst. I will wear his scar proudly, even if it is on my face."

Oliver didn't think he had ever loved her more. But then Ra's gave a laugh and said, "Again she shows courage. So be it then. Al Sah-Him, I release you from your knees. Whoever wins the fight to the death will possess the woman. Hurry, Al Sah-Him, if you kill quickly you can still save her," and then Ra's stabbed her in the chest.

She fell to the floor even as Oliver jumped to his feet. He stumbled and caught himself. His knee was not going to hold him any length of time. He forced himself to push past the pain. Oliver's cold fury was like none he had ever known. Turning, he barely avoided the first man's sword. Punching the first man hard in the face, he forced the bad leg up to kick the blade from the startled man's hand. Catching the sword in midair, he turned, impaled the man and spun around in time to block the second man's sword. He made short work of the second man and dropped the man bleeding to the floor before the man had time to think.

The other two men were more wary and the clang of steel against steel filled the room. But there was no stopping him, even though he had to bear his weight on his good leg, he was ice, cold and relentless. Felicity had collapsed on the floor, but he blocked that thought from his mind. His hate fueled him, his bitterness burnt his gut like acid, and he pushed hard to quickly finish the two men, to reach her, before his leg gave out from under him, and she would belong to another.

Ra's applauded him as the last man died on his blade. Ra's then instructed him, "Stab the sword in the floor. It leaves the leave the message to their families that these men fought bravely."

Oliver wanted to stab the blade through Ra's heart but instead he stuck the blade hard into the floor and went to her. Felicity had backed herself against the wall and was pressing her hand against her chest. Desperately, he looked for blood. "Let me see," he demanded.

"I'm okay. It's barely bleeding." But Felicity shook as she said the words and he had to see for himself.

"Just let me see." With hands that trembled, Oliver checked the wound and found a small cut. Ra's had faked him out, and he had never been so glad and so angry in his entire life.

Ra's said behind him. "It is a flesh wound, Al-Sah-Him. The scar will be small but it will serve you both to remember the lesson." Ra's walked to the table and started replacing his rings and said, "Al-Sah-him, if you force me to repeat this lesson, the next time, I WILL wear my rings. I WILL close my fist, and I WILL not stop at three. Do you understand me?"

Oliver understood perfectly.

The next time Ra's would really beat her, and he would really scar her face, and this time had really just been a warning. His voice was heavy as he answered, "Yes, Ra's. I understand. I vow there will never be another lesson."

"Good, my son. I will send her home when the morning sun rises on the third day from now. I leave you to say your FINAL goodbyes to her. I will send someone with something for your knee and her face. You should enjoy your last time together."

He wanted to carry her, but she would not allow it. Instead, she arose and picked her glasses up off the floor and helped him to limp slowly back to his chambers.

"You are still heavy. How long has Ra's had you on your knees?" She demanded on the way.

"Days." He spat the word out.

"He's breaking you, using your weakness, like me, against you."

He didn't argue with her but he knew what he had to do.

#####OQ#####

Thanks for the read. And thanks if you leave me kudos or a review.

 


	3. Chapter 3

#####OQ#####

She waited to cry until they were in his chambers, and then his brave Felicity fell totally apart on him. "I'm so sorry, Oliver. He used me against you. He forced you to kill for me again. And your knee, your poor knee. He is awful, a monster. I hate him. I hate him so much." She was shaking, and he could tell shock was setting in when her teeth started chattering.

"Shh, it's okay. It's not your fault. It's my fault. I shouldn't have defied him. He's punishing me, not you. Don't hate, Felicity. Look what hate did to me. Please, don't hate."

His heart was so sad for the both of them that it was heavy in his chest.

"I have the right. He's using me to punish you, using me like a dog treat. How dare he? Disobey your master, and I will punish you. Mind your master and I'll give you a treat, a few moments, your final time together. I swear, I'm going to buy a gun and have John teach me to use it." She fell into a chair and pulled her knees up and sobbed.

"Shhh..." He started to kneel beside her, and she grabbed him by the arm and said, "Don't you dare go back to your knees, not for me. Don't you dare."

He froze and said, "Felicity, I'm so sorry for dragging you in this mess. I love you. And, I miss you so badly, past bad. I never dreamed he would do this, hurt you like that because of me."

"Missed you too." She was hiccuping, as she sobbed and said, "I love you too. But he is such a monster." Her sobs were getting quieter, and he reached and pulled up to him. Easily, he pushed her into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She sank to the floor by the tub, weeping. Silently, he stripped off his bloody clothes and then sank down beside her. With careful hands, he urged her to raise her arms, to help him, and he made fast work of her clothes.

She was still sobbing and shivering when he picked her up and stepped in to the hot water, holding her to him. He could see the blood flowing off of them and down the drain, and he didn't want her to see. Gently, he kissed her and her eyes fluttered shut. Then she pulled away, lay her head on his chest, wrapped her arms around him and together they stood in the shower, and he let the water course over them and wash the blood away.

He stroked her neck and thought, she was going to have a real shiner tomorrow. He knew Ra's had blackened her eye on purpose. Ra's want him to see that he had caused her pain.

And he knew that Ra's was allowing her to stay, so Oliver could see her eye blacken, yellow, see the damage, see her hurt and know he had caused it by disobeying. He vowed again that it would never happen again.

No, never again.

Carefully, he pulled her away from him and checked her knife wound and found it was no longer bleeding. It really didn't even need a stitch. Oliver sighed as he thought that Ra's certainly knew how to play him, and he wished he knew how to get out of the game.

Felicity said, "The water is making my face hurt. Ra's can really throw a punch. And I know your knee hurts."

"Let's get out then." He engulfed her and then said, "And I want you to know I was proud he missed you the first time he hit you. Good move! I love that you are trying." He didn't point out that Ra's had been holding back, and he had slapped her, not punched her. But he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to voice or think about how badly Ra's could really hurt her.

Instead, he shut off the water, grabbed a couple of towels and dried them both off, rubbing her with the fluffy towels, trying to still her shudders, touching her. Sweeping her in his arms, even though she protested, he carried her to gently lay her on the bed. Dragging the covers back, he moved against her again, crawled in beside her, pulling her to him and covered them up.

"I'm not a child, Oliver."

"Good. I'm glad," he said smugly."I need a WOMEN in my bed, not a child." Then, his hands went to work, rubbing her briskly to warm her, and she slowly stopped trembling. He whispered in her ear, "You were so brave, Felicity, that's yet another reason I love you."

She was calming, and as she did his body was responding to her nearness, and she melted into him. Her hands were also moving, touching him, rubbing circles on his chest, searching out all those hidden spots, he never knew existed until she touched him, and when she lifted her head up it was to sigh, and when she said "Please," all of him contracted.

"Make me forget Ra's hands were ever on me, Oliver," she said, and he didn't have to be asked twice.

Rising on his elbow, he began to gently kiss her, and she sighed into his mouth, breathing his air, as she welcomed his kiss and slowly opening up to his tongue. He sucked on her bottom lip, and she groaned for him, feeding something deep inside of him. His other hand was busy, slowly trailing his fingers down her curves, touching and circling and burning a path, so slowly  down her body. His mouth followed his hands' path. First working on her neck, he found that spot at her shoulder that made her body pliable, and he kissed his way all the way across her shoulder and back.

"You have always had a thing for my shoulders and my arms." she said with a sigh.

He raised his head and looked her in the eyes, said softly, "I'm going to share something with you."

"Really? Okay." What a smile she gave him.

How he loved it when she smiled like that at him, he almost forgot to breathe.

"Honestly, for years, Felicity, I have been stealing touches and stepping in your personal space, breathing you in. I love the way you smell, and you might not believe this but, Felicity, I can smell you from the moment you enter a room. I know when you come into a room."

Another shining smile that was just for him, but he forced himself to continue, as he played with her hair. "I would promise myself that I wouldn't touch you, but then you would get close, and I just couldn't stop myself. So I would touch you in places that wouldn't freak you out, like your shoulder or your hand." 

His hand moved to touch her shoulder. "And you would lean into me and it fed something in me, something deep inside of me." He sighed and then let his breath out.

Softly, he said, "I began to really need to touch you. You tortured me so, so badly for so long. You did and still do make me ache to touch you."

"I never knew," she said breathlessly.

"And, Felicity, when you would touch me, I really needed a cold shower. I would have to walk away and go hit something because I wouldn't let myself really touch back." He nuzzled her neck, and she shivered beneath his touch.

"No wonder you would leave in the middle of a conversation, sometimes. I liked it when you touched me by the way. I wanted to touch you too and now I can," she began to run her hands over his chest, and he had trouble thinking and stopped her hands.

He raised his head and said "Please, let me touch first. I just need this so badly right now. I want to tell you."

The look in her eyes stole his breath because he knew that she understood there might not be another chance to share like this.

Running a trembling finger down her face, he carefully avoided her sore eye and said, "So when I touched your face that meant I wanted to kiss you so bad I ached." Slowly, ever so slowly he kissed her lips and then pulled away. "And when I touched your shoulder I really wanted to do this." He kissed his way across her shoulder, sucking where her neck met her shoulder, and she sighed for him.

Then he moved downward, he stopped at her breast and slowly took her perky nipple into his mouth and sucked it hard, then dropped baby kisses across her chest to the other breast, to give it the same attention. She arched into him, and he repeatedly dragged his tongue over her breasts, why his hands worked their own magic.

Raising his head, he said, "and when I touched her arm and pulled you to me, I wanted to do this." He slowly kissed his way downward, and she was arching her back, as he parted her curls and exposed her clit.

"It was all I could think about. Doing this to you. Tasting you. Loving you. I love the way you smell." He made her wait for it. First he blew and then he licked beside her clit, touching, tasting everywhere but where she really wanted.

"Please, Oliver, please, you're killing me, touch me," and he took her in his mouth and sucked hard, rolling her clit with his tongue, teasing, worshiping, and she was lost when he scraped his teeth over her. Slowly, so slowly, he moved his finger, and he slid his long finger against her. Not letting her go, he used his long index finger to part her lips and suddenly thrust.

He loved her response to him. She was so hot, and she held nothing back. She was bucking for him already. He curled his finger and slowly searched for her g spot, giving her long strokes with his hand. She was so juicy that he inserted another finger, never stopping sucking her clit, then blowing and using his teeth.

She grabbed him by the head and threaded her fingers through his hair, holding him to her, babbling his name, and he loved it, breathed it, and needed it so bad. He adored the way she tasted, her smell, the way she responded to him. His throbbing knee went away and there was only her skin, her taste and her hot reaction to him. It was so sweet.

Stroking her hard, he touched her g spot, and she suddenly exploded for him. She was riding his hand, her walls clamping and trembling, her clit bucking under mouth. It was almost better that cumming himself. Making her get off like this did something to him and fulfilled him. It empowered him, fed him and turned him on beyond belief.

He had never been like that in his younger days. He was out for his pleasure not his partners but this was Felicity, his Felicity. He helped her slowly come down and started the journey back up but by then she was greedy for him. He had noted that in the one time they were together. After her first orgasm, she was on fire for him and yes, that really turned him on and seemed to make him harder than he had ever been.

She pulled away his face away from her and forced him back on the bed. "Oliver, now, I have to have you now." She mounted him, hard and fast. He was lost, as she set the pace, and he was losing the war to hold on, to make it last.

He tried to slow her down, to still her. Groaning, he said, "Felicity, you're going to make me cum. I'm losing control. I want to make it last."

"Yes, Oliver, lose control." She arched against him. "Make it last next time. But now come on, I need you so bad NOW. It's been weeks."

"Wait, I want you so bad, I could hurt you. Just be still a second. I'm not going to be able to go slow." His heart was racing. His dick was throbbing, aching to finish this. He was teetering on the edge.

"I don't want slow, and you won't hurt me." She moved against him and squeezed him with her pussy walls, giving him no quarter and taunting him. "Give me all of you. Don't hold back from me." She pinched his nipples hard, and he grasp loudly.

"You don't know what you're asking." He was panting, groaning, truly losing control. She rose and slammed down on him and pinched his nipples again.

"I need you. NOW!"

He rolled them over and totally forgot about his knee. Nothing hurt now. Lifting one of her legs, he stroked deeper and deeper and the sounds she made fed something so needy within him, something that only she had ever touched. He had had sex countless times, but he didn't think he had ever been this high before, made love like this. He felt like her light was filling him, pushing the darkness away from his soul.

"Mine. Only mine." He said repeatedly as he stroked deeper and deeper, and she rose to meet him, fit him like she was made for him, sucking him with her pussy, clamping down and releasing. How could he fit her so well? But he couldn't hold to the thought, she was squeezing his ass, pulling him harder against her, taking all of him in, and he knew he was large. The sensations were overwhelming, and he was racing toward the finish.

"Yes, you're mine," she said and he didn't know how she did it but she pulled him even closer and more light entered him. He couldn't tell where he ended and she began. They were one.

She was close. Her walls were clinching and unclenching, and he ground against her clit, helping her, lifting her to hit her g spot, and she exploded for him. Skin slapped skin as he raced with her to finish it. She was still meeting him stroke for stroke. It was glorious. He felt her cum again, and he came apart. In a small last effort for control, he locked his eyes with hers and watched her crest one last time. She was perfect as she screamed his name.

He threw his head back and grunted as his release overpowered him. It started in his balls, like lightning it ran down his spine and ran the entire course of his body, as he poured into her exploding, driving hard, the deepest and most fulfilled he thought he had ever been, and she reached to meet him. Home, he thought, finally, he had found his way home, as he slowly floated back to earth with her.

She lifted her head, smiled brightly and said, "Wow, don't you ever touch my arms in public ever again."

He could barely lift his head but he grinned. "Noted," he said as he pulled her against him and passed out.

#####OQ#####

Love to hear any thoughts and please grace me with kudos if you have time. 


	4. Chapter 4

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He awoke to someone knocking on the door, and he forced himself to rise and don a robe. His throbbing, unhappy knee made him hop his way to the door.

Shifting his weight, he opened the door to a two submissive dark clad women, one who carried in food and drink, who then sat the tray on the table, and another that dropped a small pile of clothes, no doubt for Felicity, into a chair. One of the women handed him a small glass jar with a lid and pointed to his knee then both women, heads down, quietly quit the room.

Placing a finger to his lips,he  shook his head, while Felicity cocked her head at him and eyed him strangely. Carefully, he searched each dish and then ran his hands around the table's edge and came up with a small electrical bugging device that he slammed against the table, destroying it.

"Was that?"

He raised a finger stopping her speech and then removed the food from the tray, and turned it over to reveal another small device. He crushed it too. Quickly, he checked the clothes and found nothing.

"Seems all clear now." He grabbed the small glass jar and hopped back to the bed.

Felicity said, "Wow, they're bugging us?"

"I've cleared the room several times, so I figured they'd try something. Ra's wants to know what I tell you."

"So he can use it against you, I'm sure."

"Probably, now let's put some on this on your face."

"I think your knee needs it more."

"No, you first. Ra's said it was for your eye too." He gave her his best smile. "Please, let me take of you for once."

"Okay," she said quietly, as she smiled back and lifted her head up for him. 

Carefully he applied the salve to the now spreading dark purple ring around her eye. He breathed out trying to push the feelings of helplessness away, trying, to fighting the hate that made him want to clench his fists.

"Stop it, Oliver."

"What?"

"You know what! Stop beating yourself up over this. I know you'd have never wanted him to touch me, that you hate this. "

"You know me well." He leaned in and gently kissed her, tasting her.

"And what's a black eye when I get to spend all this time with you?" She smiled at him.

"That's not funny. I . . ." And she pulled his mouth back to hers and gave him a seriously hot kiss, effectively silencing him.

But she ended the kiss way too soon pulling away. 

"Let me look at your knee. Lay down" She ordered as she climbed out of the bed, found his undershirt and pulled it over her head. Barefoot, she began  dragging pillows from the many on the bed to prop his leg up. She then pushed him down on the bed.

Hard.

Her words were also hard, as she inspected the damage. "Is the fool trying to cripple you? It's a good thing you're not trying to be the Arrow right now for you'd never get the pants on." She started carefully applying the salve to his blown out knee, and he had to close his eyes to take the pain.

"So I take it my knee's swelled?" He sucked in his breath as the salve burnt like fire.

"Like a balloon, and I bet there isn't a piece of ice in hundreds of miles, huh?Her face hard, she looked like she wanted to explode.

"Probably not. But, you look really sexy in my shirt." He reached for her, but she pushed his hands away.

"Well, do you think they've poisoned the food?"

Oliver laughed then said, "Probably not. Ra's doesn't seem to want me dead, just obedient."

"Well, I'm starving. You?"

"I could eat."

"Okay, but keep the leg propped up, and I'll bring it to you."

They ate, talked about home and friends, and Thea's recovery. They slept little, showered and made love repeatedly. Time flew away and before they knew it, the sun started to brighten the sky on the third day. Their time almost over  they lay together in the predawn, in the afterglow of the sweetest lovemaking, he thought he'd ever experienced in his life, but he had to say goodbye this time.

"Felicity, I love you," he said the words, as he stroked her hair, trying to memorize her touch, her scent, the texture of her skin, everything he would torture himself with later. 

He'd never been one for cuddling, but he'd barely released her in the two plus days they'd had together. However, their time almost over, he knew what he had to do. As he'd told Barry all those weeks ago, he had to let her go. It was the only way to keep her safe from Ra's.

Calmly, even though, his heart was collapsing inside his chest, he placed his chin on the top of her head. He couldn't look at her face, or he'd never get the words out.

"I will never allow him to hurt you again, Felicity. I swear it. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe."

"You know how I feel about that. I just want to be with you." She was drifting sleepily away, and he wished he could just get up and sneak away, but he couldn't do that, not to her.

"Shh... hear me out. I want you to prepare yourself, Felicity. Oliver Queen'll be dead the next time you see me."

She wasn't asleep now, her eye snapped open and she said harshly, "No, you can hold on to him."

"Ra's is taking you away too. When he said say your final goodbyes, he meant it." 

He cleared his throat to push past the pain in his chest. "And'll do whatever has to be done to keep you out of this mess. Never and I mean never, will I watch him strike you again because of my mistakes."

"It's worth it, Oliver. You're worth it."

"No, he'll REALLY hurt you next time. Nothing's worth that, not to me." His voice harsh now, as he struggled to make her understand. "Think of what happens to me if you fall on his sword. If I find you like . . Thea? I can't do it."

"But it."

"No!" He interrupted her harshly, "Don't say it couldn't happen. Ra's would do it and make me watch. Do you want that for me, to know I killed you?"

She was crying now, but he drove the point home. "So you must be ready, my strong, brave Felicity, if you see me again, and that is an IF, I will not acknowledge you, know you or speak to you. I'll be Al Sah-Him and trust me, he's not the man you love."

She made to rise but he held her against him, as she protested, "You can't be serious. There has to be a way to end this, to fix this, and to bring you home to me. Together, all of us, your team will work this out."

"If there is a way, I can't find it. At least for right now, I have to do exactly what he demands of me. The league's too big, too far reaching. If I want to keep my family safe, there's no escape for me, this is my destiny, and I have to come to terms with it and you do too. Now I want you to promise me that you won't wait for me, and that you will stop whatever you are doing to free me from the league."

"I never said I was doing anything."

He heard the guilt in her voice. "You're a bad liar. And I expect nothing less from you but to try to save me, but you have to stop. You, the team, have to let me go, have to try to go on with your lives, and have to try to be happy. Promise me?"

She pulled away from him , looked him straight in the eyes and said violently, "No, I can't, and I won't give up. I don't believe this is what happens to the rest of our lives, that we're destined to be alone."

"You're not. You can still find someone. Have a life."

"I swear I'm going to punch you in the eye. Listen to me. We deserve our love. You deserve love. And I love you." She jabbed him in the chest with her pink painted fingernail. "I love you, the man, not Oliver, not the Arrow, and not Al Sah-Him. I love the MAN, and I don't care what you call yourself. I believe our love will somehow set you free to return to me, and I won't just stop believing it because some mad man demands it."

Tears ran down her face, and he engulfed her in his arms and rocked her, as the sun broke a new day. Gently, he used his thumps to wipe the tears from her face, taking great care around her purple with yellow edges, black eye. 

Kissing her carefully, he breathed her scent in one last time and got up. She looked up then turned her back on him in the bed, and even though, he knew she still cried, he turned his back on her and on Oliver Queen.

Swiftly, he dressed in silence and left the room. Walking away from the woman  he loved with all his heart, without looking back was heart wrenching and set his gut on fire. He stopped in the hall, for just one instant and rub his hands across his face, and then he steeled himself and walked away.

######OQ######

Ra's was breaking his fast and invited him to join him. He sat but ate little having a problem swallowing food past the lump in his throat.

"It is done then?" Ra's asked, staring into his eyes.

He did not even pretend he didn't understand. "It is over. Oliver Queen is dead."

"Yes, Oliver Queen is alive only in the past. I knew you would come to your senses. I will send her home this morning. But understand one of the league will always be close to her."

"Use them to insure her safety, and we will have no more problems."

"We have an understanding then?"

"Yes, now who would you like me to kill today? I'm ready to get to it."

"That's the spirit, my son."

He trained hard that day, and he killed simply because Ra's told him to kill. His defiance gone, and Ra's rewarded him by keeping him off his knees. He welcomed the fight, the combat and even the pain when he misjudged and took a sword cut on his forearm. He didn't flinch as a quiet woman stitched the wound with small painful stitches.

When she finished stitching, he rose to take his leave but Ra's stopped him when he said, "Al Sah-Him, sit have a drink with me."

The two sat by the fire and even though the drink was bitter, he sipped it down. Ra's turned to him. "You must cut the woman from your heart. She is the reason you were slow today, your thoughts of her will get you killed."

If he thought the hate within him was strong before, it crushed him now. "I've given her up, now I ask to retire."

"As you wish. Sleep well my son." 

Returning to his chambers, he stripped the bed in a round of fury to remove the smell of her and threw the bedding in the corner. He would sleep on the floor from now on, he had decided. She was the one who'd bought him a cot and coached him back into sleeping in a bed, and he would return to his old ways from the island.

Entering the bathroom, he had to grasp the door frame to stop from falling when he saw the mirror. Slowly, he still slid to his knees, as pain engulfed him. 

She had left him a message on the mirror in bright red lipstick. Felicity had drawn two connected hearts. One said "me" and the other one "you," and she had printed the words "forever I'm still with you. I'll wait as long as it takes."

He couldn't breathe as his eyes followed the arrow she had drawn to the counter top and there in a perfect circle laid her red ponytail holder, the same one that he had removed from her hair just yesterday just before they had made such wonderful love. 

She'd laughed, as he'd pulled her hair down and told him not to lose the only ponytail holder she had with her, and then the things she had done to him had taken all his control away. His cock twitched even now at the thought of her.

Carefully, he picked up the small red band and rubbed it between his fingers. Instantly, he felt connected to her. It reminded him of his green hood that he'd worn to honor Yao Fei. Just touching the band, he could almost feel her presence, her strength beside him. His Felicity was so smart, she knew he would keep it as a talisman, and that it would weaken his resolve to forget her.

This was a mistake and he should smash the mirror and throw the red band from the balcony and rid himself of it and the memory. He shut his eyes and breathed out. Oliver Queen is dead, only a memory, he told himself and his hand trembled. But instead of doing what he needed to do, he placed the small band in his pocket and patted it for safety. Then very carefully he removed all the signs of her lipstick message so that Ra's would never know.

After a quick shower, he decided to remake the bed. He was so exhausted, not only physically but both mentally and emotionally, and he knew she would not want him to sleep on the floor. She would not want him to punish himself. 

No, he would heal, and he would train harder than he ever had. She was right as she always was, there had to be a way out of this. Carefully, he tended his knee and then he crawled in a bed that smelled like her, propped his knee up and slept the sleep of the dead.

######OQ######

Felicity was glad to be back in Starling City. The man who returned her to in front her house never said a word, as he stopped the car and jerked his head in a motion that clearly meant "get out." Gladly, she climbed out and he sped away.

John Diggle came out of the shadows in just seconds calling her name, concern filling his voice. "You okay? I've looked everywhere for you. We all have. Where have you been the last couple of days? I was worried sick. We all were."

She ran to him, and he held her close in a bear hug.

John pulled her back to look in her face, frowning deeply, he demanded, "Who hit you? Tell me, Felicity? Was it the league?"

"I want you to help me buy a gun and to learn to shoot, John."

"No way. You're just upset. Now tell me who did this."

"Darn right, I'm upset but I'm done crying, and the next time the league picks me up and throws me at his feet, I'm going to kill him."

"You're not making sense. Who? Felicity, you could never kill anyone."

"You're wrong because the next time I see Ra's Al Ghul, I am going to kill him for what he's doing to Oliver. He may be able to stop a knife and a sword, but I bet he can't stop a clip of diamond tipped bullets. And, John, I want an automatic."

######OQ######

Water splashed over him, jerking him from his dreamless sleep. 

Ra's stood above him, a dark frown on his face. His brain foggy, he realized he was chained to the floor, and he should have known if he wasn't dreaming, Ra's had drugged him.

Ra's kicked him in his bad knee, then reached into his pocket and removed her ponytail holder, stealing it from him. "Wrong choice, Al Sah-Him. Oliver Queen is alive only in the past. He is forgotten." 

A hood flung over his head, someone choked him until he passed out again.

#####OQ#####

Thanks for the read. And thanks if you leave me kudos or a review.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

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He was back in the dungeon on a short chain, and he had lost track of time, and again and again, the freezing water came. Bitter cold, his body stressed, all of his body heat gone, he was miserable and if he did manage to sleep, he awoke to realize that he was shivering, his body's natural response to his low body core temperature. He wanted to scream out his fury at this entire situation but he didn't. Instead, he told himself all right, he had been cold before, on the island, on the ship, and in Russia, and he'd survive this too.

He was angry at himself since he'd made a huge mistake and underestimated Ra's yet again. Of course, Ra's was watching his every move. He'd been stupid not to throw her hair tie away. See what you get when you're selfish?

"Oliver Queen is alive only in the past. He is forgotten." Over and over the words came to torment him. "You are Al Sah-Him." The hood came and went shutting off the light. Darkness he'd seen before, but the more time pasted, the more problem he had focusing on reality.

Not that he liked his reality since it was torture, but he understood torture, it was something he knew first hand. His captors knew what they were doing too, since his tormentors allowed him little sleep and if he dozed, someone awakened him with a bucket of freezing water. He passed time by pacing to the end of his chain, trying to keep warm, but there was no food, lots of darkness, pain if someone decided to kick his bad knee out from under him, and then randomly, someone would choke him until he passed out. Then he would jerk back awake from the cold water to start the process over again. The only bright spot was he didn't dream. And then there were the never ending words, "Dead, Oliver Queen is dead. He is forgotten. You are Al Sah-Him. Embrace it. Say the words."

In the beginning, he tried to fight them, but just a small show because he knew fighting them would just weaken him faster. But if he gave up too quickly, it would show his hand. However, he admitted to himself that it was hard to fight them in chains, with a bad knee and shaking from being freezing wet and cold.

Misery was now his best friend. He would have gladly have killed them to stop this torture. He was getting weaker every time they woke him. The lack of food, drinking water, and the bitter cold were stressing his body. He knew he should not have kept the reminder of her and that it was a mistake. Ra's must have had a camera in the room and seen him place the ponytail holder in his pocket. It was a stupid and selfish mistake, and he used his mistake to hold on to his mind.

Then they brought him the tea.

He threw it back at them in the beginning. He knew the tea they were trying to feed him was tainted, and no matter how thirsty he was, he would not drink it. Finally they held him and forced it down his throat. He struggled and tried to throw it up, but he couldn't, with so little in his stomach, and a man could go only so long without fluids. The tea clouded his brain and made him high, so high, he couldn't hold on to the simplest thought. He struggled to focus, as he lost the ability to move, and the frigid cold seeped into his very bones.

High, so high he could do nothing but lie on the floor and shake and hurt. Wrapping his arms around himself, he placed his hands in his arm pits and tried to focus on some thought, but then someone came and threw water on him again. The water felt like needles stabbing him when he was  this high. He laughed when he remembered how he wanted to get high when he was young. Now he wanted nothing but to come down, so he could move again.

This was true torture to be unable to move, almost paralyzed, his mind refusing to work but to still able to hold on to the thought that this was terribly wrong, and he was in pain, terrible pain. Someone forced more of the tea down his throat, and now he really couldn't move, so helpless, he couldn't even attempt to stay warm, and he just laid on the floor and shook violently.

"You are Al Sah-Him. Embrace it. Say the words." Again and again with the words and the water. Again and again, they would plunge him into darkness, and he was too high to think, to plan, but somehow she would still creep into his thoughts. He had to be getting used to the drug for after a time even when he was so high, he could still see her message on the mirror, and he held fast to it. It anchored him from the insanity.

Me + you was the message. They were trying to destroy the part of him that was him. But Felicity had given him the key to survival. He knew it now that no matter how high or how many times they hurt him, his name did not matter for she loved him by any name. She loved the MAN. They could take his name from him and give him a new one, but he would still be the man she loved.

This was how he would survive this with his mind intact. Ra's wanted to take her from him but even helplessly high, he would not allow it. They were one, intertwined like the hearts on the mirror, he just pushed her deeper down for now. She was still with him, deep down, and she would wait for him to survive this, as he had the island and the rest. She would wait for him and he could still feel her, like she was standing beside him.

Sarab came to him and said, "Stop the fight, please my friend. Let her go. Cut her from your heart and embrace your destiny. You are Al Sah-Him. Embrace it. Say the words. If you continue to resist you will die down here."

But he was too high to answer him.

"Oliver Queen is alive only in the past. He is forgotten." Over and over the words and the men came to torment him. "You are Al Sah-Him. Embrace it. Say the words." They drug him to his knees and whispered the words in his ear, then kicked him back to the hard, cold concrete floor, over and over, knocking the bad knee out from under him and making him scream by the end of the abuse, but he would not say the words for them. He refused to give her up but then someone whispered. "Give her up or she will be lost to you forever. He will kill her."

Finally, he knew he had to embrace the words or both of them would die. Besides, he couldn't keep doing this, his body wouldn't survive it. He didn't know how many days they'd tortured him, but he knew he was losing himself. Oliver Queen had really died in this room. He knew that to survive this, he finally had to embrace the words. If he said the words, they would let him rest for a little while, and maybe they would let him come down from the mindless high, and she would be safe.

Yes, if he said the words and Ra's believed them, then, maybe he could get a weapon in his hands again, and he would kill Ra's yet. No, his mind wasn't that far gone. The torture was hard but this wasn't the first time someone had tried to break him.

No, he could have showed them a few things that would sped this process along, things that he had already survived. The Russian mafia, now they truly knew how to hurt a man. If he had been running this show, he would have been really broken, and this would have been over days ago. But it was time to stop this.

Ra's might think he had forgotten but he hadn't. He would kill Ra's Al Ghul for what he had done to him, for the way he had gutted Thea, like a fish, and for the way Ra's had hit Felicity, really hit her. Now high or not, he could still hear the sound of that backhand, and he focused on it. It had been long enough for Ra's to believe he was broken. It was time to play along. So he embraced the words.

"I am Al Sah-Him. Oliver Queen is alive only in the past. He is forgotten." He said the words over and over with conviction, as he lay on his side in defeat, and it wasn't long before Ra's, himself, smiled down and reached out his hand to him, and Al Sah-Him pulled himself to his feet. His face schooled to show no emotion, his lips turned down in a frown.

He was broken.

One man removed his chains, then after he refused Sarab's help to walk, he limped after Ra's.

######OQ######

Ra's led him to the pit and said, "Your knee is beyond repair now and only the pit will restore your movement. Disrobe."

The last thing he wanted to do was enter the pit but he obeyed. His useless knee was crippling him, and he would never defeat Ra's injured, as he was. He would have to take his chances.

Ra's said, "Here sit on the edge, there is no need to fully enter." He handed him a rolled clothe with the command, "Put it between your teeth." Then Ra's picked up a ladle and dipped the water from the pit. "Steel yourself, everything comes with a price." Then Ra's poured liquid fire on his knee.

Like hot lava, the water washed over him, and Al Sah-Him screamed as the water attacked his knee, cutting with throbbing, lancing pain. He bit down hard on the clothe, while sweat popped out on his forehead. Gripping the rock he sat on, his fingers turned white. Then the heat faded away and the throbbing, cutting sensation disappeared. He looked down and for the first time in over a year, his knee was normal size. Carefully, he extended it, bending it slowing, and unbelievably the knee worked for him, pain free. He almost felt young again. Even still high from the tea, he knew the knee was healed, and he felt real relief for the first time in weeks.

"Thank you," he said sincerely to Ra's.

"You have finally learned the lesson, Al Sah-Him. You are my true heir. Now let's get you cleaned up, fed, and rested, for tomorrow we train."

########OQ########

"Squeeze the trigger, Felicity, don't pull it. Nice and easy," John's words made perfect sense but she still wasn't doing it right. It didn't help that she jumped every time she pulled the trigger. Of course, she couldn't hit the target. It was a good thing she didn't have to save her life with the stupid weapon. So what if John had worked with on her correct stance, how to hold the gun, and how to put the trigger, for she still couldn't do it.

"Watch the front sight to aim. Stare at it that small bead."

Another missed shot and John sighed and said, "Did you never play video games, Felicity?"

She flipped her head around and frowned at him and said, "No, I wrote code, programs. Who had time for playing games? Oh, why does it have to be so hard? The movies and TV make it look easy."

"That's because they're not firing live ammo that kicks back," John said dryly.

Turning back toward the target, she fired again and still missed the target, and she muttered under her breathe.

John wisely kept his silence, as he checked his watch then said. "Hey, I've got to go, so let's call it a day. Look, Felicity, here's what I want you to do. Give me the gun." She handed it over, and he ejected the carriage, removed all the bullets, and then checked the chamber to make sure it was clear, then he replaced the empty carriage and said, "Felicity, I know you want to do this but if you are really going to learn to shoot a gun, you have to stop being scared of the weapon."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are, so I want you to take it with you. NO BULLETS, do you hear me?"

"Got it, no bullets." He handed the small 25 automatic pistol back to her, and she tried to hold it with a confidence she was not feeling. He was right. She was scared of the gun.

"Then I want you to practice pulling the trigger and looking down the sight. Over and over squeeze the trigger and sight. Got it."

"Got it."

His phone rang and he answered it. "Yes, Lyla, on my way," he said as he waved to her.

She stayed a while longer at the shooting range and did what Diggle said. Not having bullets in the gun made it easier for her, but still deep down, she didn't know if she would ever really be able to shoot someone, let along kill someone with a gun, even Ra's Al Ghul. Slowly, head down, she walked back to her car.

Starting to crank the engine, she hesitated and instead put her head on the steering wheel and fought the feelings of hopelessness that enveloped her. It had been three weeks now, and he was really gone it seemed, really lost to her. She forced herself not to cry. Pulling the gun out of her pocket she said, "I am done crying. It is time to take action." 

What had Dig said? Something about playing video games that was it.

Pulling her phone from her pocket, she dialed Ray's number and he answered on the second ring.

"Ray, I have a favor to ask."

"Don't you always?"

"I guess so but nothing big this time. I just need you to help me write a virtual shooting game."

"Should I ask why?"

"Probably not."

"Okay, I can see you are as truthful as normal. Sure, I'll get right on it. How real do you want it be?"

"As real as it gets. And Ray, I know exactly what the bad guy looks like. I want to shoot him. I'll get you a picture."

#####OQ#####

Stars or reviews anyone? Thanks for the read.

 


	6. Chapter 6

###OQ#####

Al Sah-Him trained harder than he'd ever trained in his life. 

Yet, no matter how hard he trained, each and every time Ra's beat him in swordplay.

But a good student, he kept trying, since his life hung in the balance, but Ra's still continued to drug him, he was sure of it.  

The drugs effects drugs weren't as bad as his time in the dungeon but something kept him slow and sluggish. Ra's continued to control him against his disappearing will. His brain not crystal clear, yet when he could think he hated Ra's for poisoning his body and his mind.

Food and drink became his enemies. 

The less he ate and drank, the better his mind worked, so he starved at meals. Starving became a double edged sword, for with no extra fat on his large frame, he quickly lost body mass as his body ate his muscle to compensate for the energy he expelled. 

He played a dangerous game by not replacing the calories, but he feared to eat more of the drug, feared losing himself completely. 

So, he ate little except fruit, and drank nothing that came out of a cup on the dining table. Still his mind changed, and he knew it. 

His nightmares became silence. 

Nights now, he yearned for his nightmares. He missed the nightmares because they meant he was straight and in his right mind.

The drug warped him. 

Sarab brought a man to him, and he saw him as John Diggle, and he easily killed John and barely blinked, and he loved John. 

Why would he kill John just because Ra's told him to deal with the man?

It made no sense but he couldn't hold on to the thought, while the drug fed his rage. 

No longer just angry, no, he'd become an inferno inside, waiting to explode. 

Ra's had him trapped, forcing him to keep up the mask, and he'd clearly lost his mind. 

The drug reduced him to a passenger in his own head, and he was no longer certain who was driving. 

But he knew, he couldn't stop himself. 

He wanted to stop himself, but he'd lost the good fight. He'd ruthlessly stuck John's body down, seen John's face to opening his eyes and finding a stranger's blood staining the sand. 

But he'd seen John, and he'd killed him. 

It sicken him that he'd lost the good fight along with his mind. 

Ra's even bragged he'd drugged him to bring his conscious to the front, and he swore Ra's enjoyed his agony.

Yet, he couldn't stop, so he killed for Ra's and did what the man told him to do, while he worked to keep his expression blank, and some days, he wasn't sure the part that was him was still there anymore. 

More and more sword fights, and he still couldn't  defeat Ra's. The man alway won, knocking the sword from his hand.

Damn, he missed his bow.

Losing repeatedly was disheartening and the more time he spent with Ra's the more he realized Ra's was insane, and maybe, he was joining him. No doubt too many trips into the pit, or rather the magic hot tub as Felicity called it had warped Ra's mind. 

He squashed that thought. 

To bring any thoughts of Felicity too near his conscious mind was dangerous, and he knew it. Selfishness had already cost him.

Mornings were the best, since he could think better and he spent them, meditating while trying to figure Ra's out. 

The man had to have a master plan, a reason for why he wanted him, Al Sah-Him, to ascend as the new head of the league. Ra's did not seem old, and he fought like a demon. He didn't buy this "I'm getting old" theory.

Real concern filled him when Ra's took him to visit his village of the dead and told him that this place had been Ra's home. 

What was Ra's thinking? 

Where had the people gone? Had Ra's really killed them all? And why had he shown him this?

He understood the story about Ra's friend that he had allowed to escape, the man that Oliver himself had fought against. He understood Ra's didn't want him to make the same mistake, and that Ra's was turning him into a heartless killer and the drug was helping him. 

But he didn't know how to stop what was happening to him.

And now he sat in an airplane headed back to his city.

Yes, Ra's had sent him back to Starling City to bring Nyssa home, to kill Nyssa because she was a threat to his reign. After hours in the plane and not eating, his mind became somewhat clear. 

Staring out the plane's window, he thought, what a joke. Nyssa was not a threat to his reign, if anything Ra's was angry at Nyssa for loving Sara, homophobic SOB. 

His eyes fell on the other men seated in the plane. Of course, Ra's had sent his most loyal men with him to Starling, so he'd have no chance to sneak away, no chance to see anyone, speak to anyone or to explain himself. 

Ra's and his spies watched him always, so he'd have to walk a very straight line. And he didn't dare take any chances after all he'd been through to make Ra's believe him loyal.

He couldn't be selfish this time. Not if he wanted to live. 

One true look from Thea, or heaven help him, Felicity, and his charade could crumble, and he'd end up back in the dungeon. 

His last round in Ra's dungeon would be a lark if Ra's figured out he was tricking him. Ra's already commented on the amount of food he ate and encouraging him to eat hardier. The man would surely cripple him again and drug him until the part that was him disappeared completely this time. 

He had to keep playing the game, no matter how much it hurt or how cold and empty he felt inside.

The plane was landing now and his gut hurt since he found himself coming home but not coming home, for Ra's wasn't letting him slip away from him. No, returning to Starling City was not his chance to escape. 

No, this test would prove his loyalty, prove he would obey without question, and prove that Oliver Queen is dead. This test would proved if he would go to his family,  to his team, or to her, especially to her. 

Since the league watched Felicity, he didn't dare to go anywhere near her, or he would endanger them both.

The plane landed smoothly and with hate burning in his gut like acid, he climbed down the steps and placed boots on the ground of his city. Sighing softly, wishing he could escape, his chest hurt as he wished he could disappear in his city's darkness like smoke, wished he could turn and take each of the League members, who travel with him, out.

But  Ra's would send more men, and they would go after each of his loved one them if he disappeared, and Oliver Queen might be dead but he wasn't stupid enough to think he could escape the league's long arm. 

So, he would do whatever had to be done to return Nyssa to her father. His stomach growled and he thought, well, the one bright spot was that he would eat a drug free meal.

######OQ######

Felicity ripped the virtual headset off her head the first time she used it, and the second and the third. 

Ra's stood too life like, too scary, and she couldn't handle it. She'd never tell Oliver, but she'd brought nightmares home from Nanda Parbat this time.

She'd teased Oliver about the black eye not mattering, but Ra's remained ruthless in her dreams. She could joke, but her subconscious understood that Ra's really could hurt her. Watching her strong Oliver be helpless and unable to stop Ra's, she knew had affected her mind too.

However, she was determined to do this, to shoot Ra's, so after a small panic attack, she picked up the virtual pistol. Ray and she'd played with the weight so that virtual pistol fit her hand like the real thing. 

Wow, Ray was good, everything really looked real.

Hands shaking, she tried to shoot Ra's, but her hands trembled, and she couldn't bring herself to point the gun in her hand. 

She ripped the headset off again. 

Breathe, she told herself. 

Typing in a few commands, she changed the virtual reality to targets. Placing the headset back on again, she picked up the virtual pistol and squeezed the trigger, again and again, practicing.

#####OQ########

League intel told him where to find her and he thought, trust Nyssa to return to the rooftop where Thea had killed Sara. 

Yes, wasn't that ironic? 

He didn't want to fight her, but she resisted and who could blame her? First Daddy dearest, steals her birthright from her and now he wants her dead. 

Of course, she's angry. Well, news flash, so was he, and if she wanted to fight, so be it.

She fought hard, and he had to work to not hurt her. Ra's wanted her dead, not him. He even cheated by throwing a smoke bomb. However, in a mood to finish this, he found his sword to her throat, when her words about remembering Sara broke through his red fury and froze him.

Yes, he remembered Sara, he'd missed her,  but he couldn't afford to say the words. 

Then, Diggle and Laurel, with a new toy, showed up at the scene. 

Damn screamer almost deafened him. 

He jerked his head up to find a standoff, and for a split second, he wondered if Diggle would pointblank shoot him.

Refusing to engage his team, he stood there frozen. He didn't want to hurt them or Nyssa. Their safety was the one reason he'd gone after Nyssa alone tonight. 

The League killed first, and one of Ra's men might easily have killed Nyssa. 

Diggle and Laurel arriving to help Nyssa, left him no option. He couldn't fight, so he withdrew. Jumping from the rooftop, he shot a repelling arrow and landed in the alley.

Yes, he had to give them this round, but he would have to up his game. 

He remembered now Laurel had mentioned a new training partner and who better to teach her than Nyssa? 

Of course, Laurel would want to save Nyssa from the league. They had to be friends now. Damn, now Laurel would never willing give her up without a fight that could get the people he loved killed.

And he couldn't return to Nanda Parbat without Nyssa, though he still hoped that Ra's would decide not to kill her or rather not make him kill her. He would kill her only if Ra's insisted. 

Dark thoughts plagued him as he returned to the warehouse and explained to Sarab what had happened.

Sarab asked, "Were they friends of yours?"

He ignored his words. Al Sah-Him had NO friends, of that he was sure. He placed his hand on his sword. "They'll be protecting her now. We need to draw her out." And he frowned  realizing this situation could get bloody quickly.

Laurel would never hand Nyssa over to him. He knew her too well. 

So how could he and they survive this without anyone getting hurt? 

If he forced his teams' hand, they would fight the league, and they would lose. 

Someone was going to get killed, someone he loved. How could he fix this? He thought for a minute then knew what he had to do.

Yes, he could still control this situation. He could still take Nyssa, without bloodshed.

But everyone would hate him.

Well so be it.

#####OQ######

Lyla laid Sara down in her crib as he came up behind her. For just an instant, his eyes swept over Sara's beautiful face, and he said a silent promise that he'd return the little girl's mother as quickly as he could. 

Hating to leave the baby alone for any time, he'd already checked the kitchen to make sure that were no fire hazards, like a pot on the stove. He was not trying to burn Sara up for heaven's sake. 

However, he knew he'd crossed a line here, one Dig would be majorly upset over but it seemed the only way to get the team to give up Nyssa without losses. 

He felt for Nyssa, but Ra's was her father, and he currently had no choice but to obey. Yeah, it sucked to be him.

"I need you to come with me, Lyla."

"Oliver!" Lyla spun around and looked genuinely shocked at his appearance. He knew he looked different, hard and dark but the look on Lyla's face spoke the fact in volumes.

"My name is Al Sah-Him now. Oliver Queen is dead, only a memory. It is best you remember that."

She swung, taking a punch at him that he easily sidestepped. He pointed a finger at her. "Lyla, come quietly." He hated himself and Ra's so badly, but he laid his hand on his sword and said darkly, "Don't force me to hurt Sara, Lyla."

And Lyla held up her hands in defeat and went quietly.

#####QO#####

Back in the warehouse, he called Dig. He would call him John, a name he didn't use that often, and he hoped Dig would catch it, to somehow know that was only a ploy to get them to give up Nyssa without anyone getting hurt, somehow understand he didn't have a choice.

He kept his words even. "John, first let me assure you that no harm will come to Lyla, if you do exactly as I say. Bring Nyssa to the warehouse at Fulton and Hallstead, and I'll let your wife go.

"Oliver, I swear if you do anything to Lyla." He heard the panic in Dig's voice, and he hated himself, but he had no choice.

"You have 30 minutes." He hung up on him, ended the conversation before he broke down, and then assured himself he would survive this, that they would all survive this. 

Turning, his back to Lyla, who was tied to a chair, he tried not to listen to Lyla, who was determined to give him a piece of her mind.

Lyla's words killed him, make his chest tighten and ache, striking directly at his heart. This was a terrible thing he'd done, but he had to take Nyssa without his team getting killed in the process. 

He ached to scream at her that Ra's had him trapped, sealed off inside himself, and Ra's had to trust him to allow him to get close enough to figure out how to kill him. 

If only, he could explain how lonely he was, how lost without his team, how much he missed his extended family and yes, Felicity. 

He wanted to rant about how much harder this time was than the island, than all those other places he had been, since he'd been alone and now he had real friends and family. He wanted scream that Ra's was ripping his mind away by drugging him. He wished he could scream back that he was starving himself just to think, and how he couldn't even think about Felicity.

But he didn't say the words, not even when she told of John's pain after his brother's dead. Yet Lyla's words struck home, and for the first time, he lost it and yelled at Lyla to be quiet, but she wasn't going to back down. 

Married to his best friend, she wanted to reach him. 

His hands balled into fists and the fury inside him made him want to hit something, anything. Sarab finally reminded him that it was time, and he was glad since he could end Lyla's torture to what tiny bit was left of his soul.

He steeled himself to finish this but the worst lay in front him. He had to face Dig after endangering his wife and his child. How low could he sink? 

At the exchange, he refused to look in anyone eyes. It was bad enough to see the horror, the disappointment and the shock on their faces at what he had become. 

Sarab searched each of them until he reached Felicity and of course, she resisted and since, he really didn't want Sarab touching her, he nodded and allowed Felicity not to be searched by Sarab.

His fingers twitched when Felicity reached out to him, and for just an instant, he looked at her face, before he slammed down his selfish emotions and got everyone killed. 

The exchange almost over now. 

Nyssa bound tightly and a member of the league led her away. 

He released Lyla, and she ran and hugged John.

Then just when he thought he was going to get through this without bloodshed, Lyla hugged Felicity and turned back to them with guns blazing. 

He should have known that the team would pull something, known it'd been too easy. 

Trust them to hide the weapons on Felicity, and he'd fallen for their trick by not searching her. The entire fake out probably her idea, damn it. 

Heavens, how he loved her, but he should have searched her himself. 

Now his team was going to get themselves killed.

No escape from fighting now, he had to put up a good show, so he attacked Dig, who didn't understand he fought him to protect him from the league soldiers. 

Dig was angry and fought him hard, and he tried to take Dig out quickly. 

And yes, once the fight began he went overboard, damn the drug, he couldn't stay focused, had a problem pulling back, stopping, the anger inside him intense, insisting he kill. 

He saw red. 

KILL! He heard Ra's in his mind.

NO!

Where was his control? Not Al Sah-Him. 

liver, he needed to be Oliver and NOT kill John. 

But John was trying his very best to kill him and everything overlapped.

Out of control now, he cut John, his brother, his friend, who was on his knees, pleading with him to remember he was Oliver. 

But he was in a black rage, Ra's was in his head, urging him to kill, and he wanted to plunge the sword through John's heart so bad that he trembled, as he hesitated. 

Pain exploded in his wrist, as an arrow sliced through his arm. 

In complete shock, he snapped his head around and looked in disbelief straight into Thea's eyes. His sweet deadly sister, her father made over, a dark archer, now stood above him, bow drawn, ready to shoot him again.

"Get away from him, or the next one will go through your eye."

What had Thea become? She'd shot him, and he believed she'd shoot him again. 

Well if that didn't snap him back to reality then nothing would. 

The league had already drug Nyssa away and there was nothing to be gained by continuing this fight, and there was no way he'd engage Thea. 

Slicing the arrow off that stuck through his wrist with his sword, he jerked the arrow out of his wrist, slung it to the rooftop, and forced himself to walk away, and he never looked back.

######OQ######

Back in Nanda Parbat, he'd been happy Ra's had stopped his arm when he went to stab Nyssa, but now he fought to control his shattered emotions. 

He would not marry Nyssa, he would not. 

It sickened him and from the look on her face, the idea sickened her too. 

And then Ra's had shown him the bio-weapon that Nyssa had stolen from Ra's. 

China again and he broke out in a sweat. 

Ra's expected him to murder everyone in Starling City, all those innocent people in his city and his loved ones? 

What the hell was he going to do? 

He needed help and he needed it now. Now, he sat at the evening meal and pushed his food around his plate, starving but knowing he couldn't eat because thousands of lives depended on him being able to think, and Ra's enjoyed poisoning his mind.

######OQ######

After her total breakdown at the destroyed foundry, Felicity went back to the Palmer's labs. She picked up the virtual pistol, queued up the program and put on the headset. 

Ra's Al Ghul, in all his robed glory, shimmered to life, and with pure hate, she didn't hesitate this time but emptied the clip into his chest, over and over, again and again and again and the blood flew. 

Then she sank to the floor and wept again for Oliver, for Thea, for John, and for all of them.

Oliver lost to her. Oh, he'd warned her, and he'd not acknowledged  her. 

But she hadn't believed him.

After a time, she got up, and she killed Ra's again and again until she was cold and numb. The ice formed swiftly over her heart. 

Steadfast now, she planned to kill Ra's for what he'd done to Oliver, for destroying her good man, for turning him into a man who'd threaten to hurt baby Sara and kidnapped John's wife. She shot Ra's again for what he'd done to all of them, and she swore each time she shot him that she'd kill him and was coming for him. 

Yeah, she'd lied to Thea about accepting this situation. 

If Ra's wanted a war then so be it. 

Clearly, it was time to fight for Oliver's soul.

And she killed Ra's again.

#####OQ#####

Reviews or kudos? I like them all. Thanks for the read.


	7. Chapter 7

#####OQ#####

Oliver thought his heart was going to stop, as he watched the plane and Ray come plunging down out of the sky. Ray was falling fast, heading straight for Felicity, and then unbelievably, Merlyn tucked her body beneath his and protected her, as Ray flew past them and crashed into the sand.

Ra's then bragged that the plane did not contain the Omega weapon, so he knew Ra's had been using the plane as a ploy to trap whoever was betraying him. Again he had miss-stepped since he was the one betraying Ra's and now everyone, and he meant almost everyone he loved was now in grave danger. The league was closing in on them, vastly outnumbering his team. He yelled down to them, "Surrender or die," while he hoped Ra's didn't give the command to have them stuck down then and there.

The team gave up their weapons throwing them in the sand. He was shocked to see that even Felicity had a small handgun. What was Felicity thinking? And what was his team thinking? They had attacked in broad daylight. What happened to sneaking around in the dark? He would have thought Merlyn had more sense.

#####OQ#####

Now with his team in chains, he marched to them meet with Ra's. Of course, Felicity would be the one to speak first. "Hey, Oliver? Oliver? What is going on?"

He turned on his heel and said sharply, "If any of you speak, we're all gonna die." He looked quickly at each one. Merlyn gave him a sharp nod, and he knew as always the man had something up his sleeve. It was a shame, he wasn't up to speed with whatever the man was planning, but there was no time to talk to him.

"What?" said Felicity stopping to stare at him. Clearly, she didn't understand him.

He spoke directly to her and looked her straight in the eye, he couldn't help that his voice softened just a bit, as he said, "I need you to trust me." Then he turned and matched them all before Ra's with the hope that somehow all of them would survive this exchange.

Ra's said, "The Chinese have a saying, 'You stir the grass and you startle the snake.' My ruse with the plane was meant to reveal any traitors among me." Ra's walked and looked Diggle straight in the eye and asked, "How did you know of the virus? Of the plane?"

Diggle kept quiet, and Ra's continued down the line looking hard at Merlyn then skipping the rest to stare Felicity down. Fear consumed him as Ra's looked hard at Felicity.

He told himself not to panic, as Ra's stood before her and stared her down. Dishonorable thoughts about stabbing Ra's in the back filled his mind. His hand twitched, and he wanted to reach for his sword, as Ra's stared at Felicity.

But he stood his ground as he waited, though he never took his eyes off of her and Ra's. Please keep quiet, Felicity, he thought, for you are not a good liar. He wondered if he stabbed Ra's in the back, could they fight their way out of this place? The odds seemed unlikely, if Ra's followers had any say in the matter. Then thankfully, Tatsu spoke.

"Maseo told me and I told them," she said in her strong voice.

Ra's turned toward her and said, "So a dead man told you. How convenient." Ra's voice held disbelief.

"He said only three men knew about your plan. You, him and Oliver." Tatsu said, giving Ra's the information Merlyn must have told her.

All eyes were now on him, and he said the words that Ra's expected. "Oliver Queen is dead. I am Al Sal-Him." He might have said the words but he could not meet the eyes of any of his people.

Ra's was considering her words, he could tell, then Ra's said, "This would not be the first time that Sarab has betrayed me to Maseo Yamashiro's weaknesses. But know your timing was a function of my gambit, it was, never the less fortuitous. You see by tradition, the Ra's would contemplate mercy upon his enemies on the eve of a wedding."

Trust Ray to open his mouth, he thought as Ray said, "You are getting married? Guess there really is a kettle for every pot."

Thanks Ray, he thought, as he wanted to punch him. He had hoped not to bring his upcoming wedding to Felicity's attention, but no Ray had to open his big mouth.

"The wedding is mine." He said in a strong voice, and he knew all eyes, especially Felicity's, were upon him as he stared at the floor. This charade just got harder and harder, and he found himself again unable to look at any of them when he said the words, "I am betrothed to Nyssa Al Ghul."

Of course, he couldn't look down forever, he had to look at her shocked face, and he tried again to tell her with his eyes that this was going to be okay. For so long he had told her with his eyes what he felt, and he tried now to tell her what was going on in his heart. In just a few seconds, he tried to tell her that he was so sorry for what was happening, that he couldn't control this situation, and that she needed to trust him. She should have understood what he was trying to tell her. But he had a feeling she had understood nothing. Then the moment was gone.

"Take them below," said Ra's.

########OQ#######

Returning to his room, he paced and tried to figure out how to stop what Ra's had put into motion. Tonight was his wedding, almost everyone he loved was in the dungeon, and Starling City was still in grave danger. Even knowing it was dangerous, he called the guard, and sent for John Diggle to be brought to him.

John's anger made the room crackle with emotion, from the time he entered.

"Leave us." He ordered the guards. Turning back to Dig, he asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"Like you give a damn."

Concern filled him. John was really angry. He had never considered that John wouldn't understand. "Didn't Malcolm speak to you?"

"He did. So was it a part of your plan to leave my daughter alone when you kidnapped my wife?"

Ouch, he should have known John would still be angry about Lyla and Sara.

"I had to do something to prove my loyalty to Ra's."

"So taking Lyla? That was your idea, Oliver? In front of our daughter?"

He knew when he had taken Lyla, he had stepped over a line and his guilt raced to the surface. He couldn't look John in the face as the word "yes," came out covered in his guilt. He tried to explain, to reach John by saying, "You met Tatsu?"

"What does that have to do with it?" John said angrily.

"Tatsu told me that in order to beat Ra's, I would have to sacrifice all the things in my life that I hold most precious and your friendship was on that list. "

"Oliver, you didn't just lose my friendship, you lost my trust, you lost my respect."

John's words were slamming into him, hurting him and when the door opened, he turned and screamed the word, "WHAT?" at the guard.

"Ra's demands that we return this man to his friends." Turning, he found John giving him a go to hell look, and he was forced to let him walk away with the guards.

#####OQ######

Ra's had called him to the great hall and who does he find but Merlyn in chains with Ra's sword to his throat. "What this," he asked as he entered the room. Trust Merlyn to stir trouble, like he didn't have enough.

"I'm sorry, Oliver," said Merlyn.

"My name is Al Sal-Him."

Ra's pushed the sword closer to Merlyn's throat as he said, "Not according to Mr. Merlyn here." He removed the sword and turned toward him and said, "He claims that you've been deceiving me the entire time."

It was almost funny. Poor Merlyn, he was the little boy that called wolf, for even when he told the truth, people had trouble believing him. He stood tall and faced Ra's and said, "I have killed for you. I have severed all ties with my past. I have hurt people who were friends to Oliver Queen, and if you hadn't of stopped me I would have murdered your daughter at your command." He could see the puzzlement in Ra's eyes. Should he believe Merlyn? Should he believe him? Who was lying?

"What if this is just part of your own elaborate ruse?"

"Then I will have nothing and no one to go home to. Oliver Queen is dead and the Arrow is gone." Even as he said the words, he wondered if he was speaking the truth. John was really angry with him, and who knew what the rest of them were thinking? Felicity's face when he had seen her last wasn't a pretty thing. He was sure he would have a lot to answer for later, if they all survived this ordeal.

Ra's eyed him darkly and said, "We shall see."

Together, Ra's, a guard and he walked Merlyn back to the dungeon. Merlyn was hanging back, and the guard gave Merlyn a small shove. Merlyn stumbled against Ra's in the small hall and almost fell but recovered.

Ra's held up his hand, stopping the group as he said darkly, "Ever the magician, Mr. Merlyn. Did you really think that would work?" He grabbed Merlyn's hand, twisted his wrist and removed the glass vial from Merlyn's hand. "Did you really think that you could steal the bio-weapon from my pocket? Again you have failed. You may have fast hands, magician, but not fast enough."

Malcolm shrugged, gave a small smile, and said, "You can't blame me for trying. Oliver knows how deceptive I am."

"I have told you that Oliver is dead. And Al Sal-Him has no time for your party tricks." Malcolm snapped his head around to look at him, and he almost missed Malcolm's small wink and nod. What had Malcolm just done, he wondered?

#######OQ#######

The guard opened the door and pushed Merlyn into the cell and seated him. Merlyn said with a smile on his face, "I told you about Oliver, you were supposed to."

Oliver was having problems understanding what Malcolm was doing, but he was doing something, he was trying to control the situation somehow. His mind was racing to understand.

Ra's interrupted Merlyn and said, "I was supposed to do what, Mr. Merlyn? Grant you mercy? I am. Because this death, will be a lot shorter than the one I had planned for you."

Merlyn stood to attack, and the guard hit him in the head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious.

Ra's removed the Omega virus vial from his pocket and held it up for all to see. Horror engulfed him as he realized that Ra's was going to kill them all. How could he stop this? He couldn't stop this. If Ra's broke the vial, everyone but him was as good as dead. Yet why had Merlyn just up smiled up at him? Then something clicked as his mind, as he replayed the exchange from just a few minutes ago.

Why had Merlyn winked at him? Why? Suddenly, he thought he understood. Merlyn was a magician that never got caught. Merlyn had wanted Ra's to catch him, so Ra's could to take the vial away from him. It would be an easy thing to take the Omega virus but to replace it would require more time so why not let Ra's make the replacement? What words had Merlyn used? "How deceptive I am."

Merlyn knew Ra's, and Merlyn had known Ra's was going to kill all his friends and him. Merlyn was a member of the league and understood that Ra's wasn't going to let any of them would get out of this dungeon alive. And Merlyn was helping him pass another of Ra's tests. And in order to kill Ra's, Al Sal-Him had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Oliver Queen was really dead. Yes, the wink and the nod were to warn him that Merlyn had traded the vials, and Ra's had unknowingly helped him. Heaven thank him, Merlyn, had just saved all their lives. He so hoped he was right. Now, he just had to pass the rest of the test.

Felicity had panic on her face as she said, "Oliver, if what Malcolm says is true, if you are going to do anything, now is the time." He had to close his eyes to shut out her pleas, to steel himself for the coming ordeal.

Ra's said, "Al Sal-Him said the sword's woman is inoculated, so you can take her to another chamber." The guard removed Tatsu, and Laurel desperately yelled his name then said, "Oliver, we believed in you."

Daggers were plunging into his heart, for his mind was screaming what if he was wrong? But then it was too late for Ra's threw the vial, and it shattered on the concrete floor, releasing the virus.

"Seal the room." Ra's ordered.

It was too late now. If he was wrong they were infected and already dead. He prayed he was right and that Merlyn had traded the vials. He had to be right or almost everyone he loved was now dead. However, right now he had to pass Ra's test or all of this would be for nothing, and everyone in Starling City would also be dead soon.

He hardened his heart, as he shut the door while they screamed at him, thinking that he was letting them die. Never would he forget Felicity's cry that "we trusted you," for he would take that to his grave, and it would be new food for his nightmares if he ever returned to dreaming. But for right now he had to trust Merlyn, the magician. He had to believe that they would survive this and that was the only way he could walk away and not look back. He had to believe that Merlyn, the villain, had just saved them all.

Throughout the wedding, even as he stopped Nyssa's blade from stabbing him, all he could think about were his friends, drawing their last breathes, dying. His heart ached for his true love Felicity. The reality that all of them could be dying and that their last conscious thoughts were that he had betrayed them made him sick to his stomach.

As the priestess said that Nyssa and he were bound together, all he could think about was that he really had betrayed them, and he despised himself. The darkness inside him seemed to engulf him. He looked hard at Ra's and hate burned in his gut. I will kill you, he promised. No matter if they are dead or not dead. I swear it.

#####OQ#####

It was his wedding night. But Nyssa was not the one he wanted. He loved Felicity. Ra's was truly insane. Ra's had supposedly just killed all his friends and his true love. Ra's had forced him to marry a women he knew was gay, and Ra's thought he should right now be bedding Nyssa against her will. How sick was Nyssa father?

He eyed Nyssa, as he entered the honeymoon suite. He could tell Nyssa was ready to try kill him again. Slowly, he held his hands up and shook his head. Moving to the desk, he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote. "I love, Felicity. She is my heart. I don't want you. I want her."

She read his words and smiled slowly then nodded.

He wrote, "Help me, your father is INSANE."

She took the pen and wrote. "YES. Help me. Together, we will kill him."

He nodded and wrote, "Together, we will kill him on the plane to Starling City."

She nodded.

Then he burnt the piece of paper and threw the ashes from the balcony. He would be careful this time.

#####OQ#####

Hope you hear from you! Thanks for the read.


	8. Chapter 8

#####OQ#####

Felicity came back to life, coughing and gasping and lying on John's legs. John was also coughing and her first thought was, "I'm not dead. We are not dead."

The others were coughing and waking too. Somehow, Oliver had lied to them all, and they were going to survive this.

Ray said, "Not that I'm complaining, but shouldn't we be dead by now."

Malcolm coughed and said, "Yes, we should, but I tricked Ra's into trading out the Omega virus. I saved your lives."

Felicity said, "And your own, which is probably the only reason you did it."

"Well there is that point." Silence answered Malcolm, who said, "I believe the words your searching for are thank and you."

"So not happening." Felicity said, "Truly, Malcolm, you're the villain that becomes the hero? So, what is in it for you?" said Felicity as the rest of the team frowned deeply.

"Still being alive right now, so I can watch you eat crow," Malcolm said smugly.

Felicity rolled her eyes at him and then said, "Did Oliver know you had switched out the virus?" She needed to know if Oliver was acting when he locked them in, or if he had really betrayed them. She wanted to believe that Oliver had all of this planned.

Malcolm nodded and then said, "I would believe he knew if he was paying attention."

"Which means you didn't tell him?"

"I didn't have time to tell him."

Ray raddled his chains and asked, "Merlyn, did your plan include how to get out of this cell? Or are we just going to play dead when the guards come to haul our off our dead bodies?"

"I have to admit that I hadn't planned that far ahead."

"But you planned to bring a fake bio-weapon?" said Ray.

"Well it did come in handy, and we were just supposed to destroy the plane, remember? In and out of here. I never planned to be Ra's guest."

Felicity gasped as the Flash suddenly appeared at the cell's window.

The door opened and the Flash said, "Wow, Felicity, I never thought I would see you in chains. Can't say the whole 50 Shades is a good look for you. Let me help you with those." And in a flash all of their chains were unlocked.

She jumped up and hugged Barry and then quickly brought him up to speed on the Omega virus. Felicity said to Barry, "We could really use your help on this whole thing."

Barry said, "I'm sure Oliver's got this."

John frowned and said, "I wouldn't count on it."

Barry shook his head and said, "I don't know. You know how Oliver feels about me working with his team."

"I don't think Oliver is thinking about his team anymore. He is NOT a team player right now." John said dryly.

Barry said, "No, he is. It was Oliver, who sent me to save you guys. He needs you guys, even if he doesn't think so. Now let's get all of you out of here."

Felicity said, "We have to find Tatsu first. She is our friend, and we can't leave her behind."

"Okay, your right, you can never have enough friends."

#####OQ#####

The plane was nearing Starling City and the time to attack Ra's was drawing near. He was waiting for the man beside him to give him an opening. They were outnumbered and the odds were currently not in his or Nyssa's favor but time was running out. He had to make the first move and kill the man, take his weapon and arm Nyssa, all without getting himself and Nyssa killed.

The plane hit turbulence, and Nyssa attacked the man beside her, ending his life in a blink with a small knife. The world inside the plane exploded into movement as Nyssa attacked another man, and Ra's pulled his sword, and they exchanged blows. Ra's was stronger and knocked Nyssa's sword away. It clattered across the plane's floor and slid to a stop. Ra's placed his sword under Nyssa's chin and pressed.

Oliver faced Ra's and said, "This is over, Ra's. NO more. Release Nyssa and fight me. It is time to end this. I am gong to kill you."

"Lower your sword, Al Sal-Him, this is between me and my daughter."

"No, this is between us."

"You dare to oppose me? You will obey me, Al Sal-Him."

"No, I will not obey. You will not kill the people in my city. I will kill you myself."

Ra's kept his sword held to Nyssa's throat, and screamed at him, "You will obey, boy! You will destroy your city."

"I will not."

"You were delivered by the prophecy. Your name is Al Sal-Him."

Oliver drew his sword and said harshly, "My name . . . is Oliver Queen. I am Oliver Queen!"

Ra's screamed at him, "Oliver Queen is dead."

"Oliver Queen is alive. It is Al Sal-Him that is dead, that never was." The rage he had suppressed roared to the surface. He attacked, and Ra's had to jerk the sword from Nyssa's neck to deflect his sword from taking Ra's head off. Steel crashed against steel and their swords crossed again and again as they fought.

Nyssa was then fighting the men that had appeared from the cockpit. She made short work of them and turned her attention to Ra's, who now had to fight them both. "Worthless traitors, both of you. Deceivers, I am going to kill you both. You can die together, and I will still destroy your beloved city. Just as I destroyed your beloved Felicity, and the rest of your friends. Your ruse is at a end."

Oliver attacked over and over and the plane suddenly exploded into smoke. He was blinded, and by the time he could stop coughing and see again, the door to the cargo bay was shut, and Ra's was gone.

"He must of jumped taking the Omega virus with him," Nyssa said, "though that is the least of our problems for the pilot is dead."

Oliver slid his sword back in the scabbard and said, "Good thing I know how to fly a plane. Ra's has not won yet."

"It's not the flying part that worries me, it's the landing in one piece part," said Nyssa, concern written on her face.

Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the plane throwing them both to floor. The plane tilted and went nose down.

"My father is truly trying to kill us," Nyssa said.

"You think?" Oliver pulled himself into the pilot seat and pulled up on the controls, fighting them as he tried to stop the plane from diving. "Strap in," he yelled at Nyssa, "It's going to be a rough ride."

Oliver crash landed the plane in a field just outside of Starling City. As they crawled out of the wrecked plane, Nyssa turned to him and asked, "Are your friends really dead?"

His chest contracted, and he said, "I don't know. I hope not. But I really don't know. But I'm going to find out." He headed toward Starling in a jog. Headed toward his team, at least he hoped to find his team. Certainly if Merlyn had swapped the Omega virus out, he had an extraction plan, and they were home or Barry had gotten to the team in time. Please, he thought, let them be home. Please, let them be alive. Please, don't let me be alone.

#####OQ#####

When he opened the door to Palmer's lab, his heart skipped a beat, since he smelled her, before he saw Felicity standing next to Ray and Diggle. Yes, they were alive, and she was alive, they were all alive. He almost choked on his joy.

Everyone froze, then Diggle was the first to react. John pulled his gun, and he pointed it straight at him and for the first time ever, after they had been separated, Felicity did not run and throw her arms around him. It was a stab to his heart that she only looked at him with distrust in her eyes and inwardly he sighed.

"I didn't come to fight," he said. But then John harnessed gun and came at him with a roar, and Oliver let John punch him hard in the face. He just took it, but then he caught John's second punch with his hand.

"One is all you get," he told Diggle, as he shoved his punch back at him. "No more. I did what I had to do so you would survive. Did everyone get out alive?"

"Like you care?" said John bitterly. "Where's your buddy, Ra's."

"Ra's is not my friend."

"But I see you brought your new wife."

Oliver understood that John was angry with him but he said, "None of this is Nyssa's fault, and we don't have time for this. The city is in grave danger. Ra's is still coming with the Omega virus. Did Merlyn get the sample out?"

"You weren't sure Merlyn traded the vials were you?" Felicity accused him.

He caught her eyes and said quietly, "Once Ra's threw the virus and it entered the air it was too late. I know you think I betrayed you, but I just did what I had to do to keep all of us alive. And you have to believe me that you all are still alive because I shut that door. If I hadn't, Ra's would have really killed all of you."

Diggle gasped, and he knew Diggle wanted to attack him again but was restraining himself.

Ray said, "Well that just makes so much sense. We're alive because you sealed us in with the virus."

"It wasn't the virus or you'd be dead."

"Stop it," Nyssa said. "My father is going to destroy this city and you are bickering."

"She's right. Where are Lyla and Sara?" He demanded of Diggle.

"Like I would tell you, Al Sal-Him or whoever you are today."

Oliver scrubbed his hands over his tired face and said, "Today my name is Oliver Queen, and Ra's is going to kill everyone in Starling City, except me and Tatsu since we are immune to the virus. John, you can be angry but don't be stupid. Get Lyla, Sara and yourself as far away from Starling as you can. The virus will kill all of you." He turned and said, "Ray, Felicity you have to get out of the city too. Where is Thea? The others?"

"No, I'm not leaving." Felicity said, "The immunization is on its way. Cisco just texted me. Barry will be here soon with the vaccine."

"We still need to evacuate the city. The immunization only works on adults. The virus will kill all the children. We need to bring Capt. Lance into this."

"Lance is still not what I would call your friend." Merlyn said as he entered the room. "I would say you and Ra's have parted company then?"

"Yes, he didn't like the fact I was trying to kill him. Merlyn, it's really good to see you." He reached his hand out and shook Merlyn's hand.

"Now, whoever thought the day would come, you would be glad to see me."

"I agree totally, but right now I could hug you for switching out the virus."

Merlyn gave him a slight nod and Oliver turned away. He said, "Felicity, if you were going to poison the most people possible where would you plant the virus?"

She turned and faced the computer panel, and he couldn't stop himself as he moved toward Felicity and stepped into her personal space.

For so long, it seemed he had been without her, for so long he had lived without her, and for so long he ached for her touch so badly that he just wanted to touch her, to breathe in her scent. But this time when he reached out, instead of moving toward his touch as Felicity always had, she jerked away from him, escaping his touch and her reaction hurt him, stabbed his heart, and warped his soul.

For a second, he thought he saw disgust on her face. And he understood that she didn't want him to touch her, that he had crossed a line with her too, just has he had with John. As Tatsu had said, to defeat Ra's he would have to give up what was most precious to him, but who knew that this would be so hard, so painful. Steeling himself, he stepped back from her, giving her more space. He would push this away for now, for he had to plan how to defeat Ra's now. Maybe he could fix this later but for now he had to KILL Ra's. The rest he could maybe fix later.

#####OQ#####

As always thanks for the read. And I like reviews!


	9. Chapter 9

My version of how Ra's is defeated. For my followers this is where this story has been going from the beginning, from the 1st chapter. Please let me know what you think. We are really AU now. I am no longer cannon since I wrote this before the season's end aired. Enjoy! And many thanks to the people that take the time to talk to me for this is the end of this story. 

#####OQ#####

Ra's words still echoed in his mind, "I set in motion the dead of your city. Four instruments of death, and I doubt your friends will have enough time to stop all of them."

Oliver walked toward his certain death to fight Ra's and the league with Starling City in shambles. People were evacuating, streaming from the city like rats, leaving a sinking ship. Oliver couldn't control the chaos. It so reminded him of China. People were dying in the streets, and there was nothing, nothing, he could do about it. Caitlin, and Crisco had arrived with the truck load of the vaccine, and Barry was doing everything he could to save as many people as he could help get out of the city but it wasn't enough to save everyone.

His team, and his other friends, even Captain Lance had done everything they could to prevent this destruction but Ra's was right. His friends couldn't stop all the Omega viruses, and even Barry couldn't be everywhere at once. They had the vaccine but how do you vaccinate all these people in so little time?

All these thoughts plagued him, as he and Nyssa faced Ra's and the league on a bridge in the middle of Starling City. Ra's stood now and bragged to him, "The last thing you will ever see is your beloved city succumbing to disease and death. You refuse to be Al Sal-Him and wish to be Oliver Queen. Well so be it, for I am going to rip Oliver Queen to shreds this time. You have written your own epitaph."

Oliver attacked Ra's and steel flew against steel. Nyssa joined the attack, and Ra's fought to keep the two of them from besting him. Other members of the league engaged the fight, and then Merlyn was there too, fighting like the dark archer he was.

He caught sight of Tatsu out of the corner of his eye, taking down league members, and Laurel, trying to hold her own, while members of the police department joined the fight, all of them fighting the league. He could hear shots fired, but he blocked it all out. Suddenly he saw Thea in Roy's red suit also join the fight, and for an instant, he faltered, and Ra's sliced his arm.

Oliver forced himself to not concentrate on what Thea was doing. He had to defeat Ra's, had to match him blow for blow, thrust for thrust, but as always whenever he fought this man, he mis-stepped, and Ra's knocked his legs out from under him. It infuriated him that Ra's could best him. In a blink of an eye, Ra's knocked the sword from his hand and backhanded him, sending him flying to the concrete. Rolling with the fall, he retrieved his sword and attacked again.

Ra's turned his sword and hit Nyssa hard in the head with the hilt, and she collapsed to the ground and lay still. Tatsu attacked Ra's but she lasted only a few seconds as Ra's sent her flying through the air with the back of his hand. Her sword clattered on the pavement, and she lay prone on the ground. Again and again, his own sword crashed against Ra's, but he was not winning.

The man was so strong, so fast that there didn't seem to be a way to best him. He faltered and Ra's kneed him in the stomach, then punched him in the kidney, making he doubled over. Falling forward, he lost his sword, and Oliver knew he had lost yet again to Ra's. Trying to rise, on his knees now, he caught Ra's sword with his hand and punched him in the stomach, but Ra's kneed him in the face. Again he crashed to the ground, and Ra's kicked him and kicked him, knocking the air from his lungs. Rolling away, he made it to his knees before he found Ra's sword at his throat and knew that his good fight was over, and he had lost again.

#####OQ#####

Felicity ran onto the bridge with Diggle beside her, running cover for them both. People were fighting everywhere. She watched as Merlyn shot a league member with an arrow that was sneaking up behind Thea.

Merlyn turned and said, "Have you lost your mind? Get out of here. I don't have time to protect you." He shot another arrow. "And this is no place for you."

"Like I want your protection? It's Oliver that needs help. He had fallen to Ra's," she said as she ran toward him.

######OQ#####

Ra's pushed the sword into his throat, and he wildly considered running himself through. Especially when Ra's said, "Al Sah-Him, I was going to kill you outright, but now I think that would be too easy on your traitorous soul. No, for your ruse, your betrayal, I am going to keep you for a pet."

"Kill me you demon. End my torment NOW."

"I think not. Instead, I am going to drag you back to that dungeon in chains, and this time, when I finally ALLOW you to see daylight again, you will do exactly as I order you, for I am going to eliminate Oliver Queen once and for all this time."

Ra's pressed the sword against his neck, nicking him as Ra's pointed at two league members. "Bind him," he ordered, and the two men pulled his arms hard behind him and placed the chains on him, linking his feet to his hands so he was hogtied, while Ra's held the sword to his throat to ensure he didn't move.

Ra's demanded, "Bind Nyssa and the sword woman too."

Removing his sword, Ra's leaned in and looked him straight in the eye and said, "I am going to destroy everything that makes you Oliver Queen, and I mean everything. This city will be dust when I leave it. Trick me? Defy me? Use my own daughter to attack me? I will make you sorry you were ever born."

"I already am, so kill me now." He spat the words at Ra's. "Do what you will, for I will never obey, NEVER OBEY!"

Ra's backhanded him, snapping his head back, and he welcomed the pain, deserved it for losing to this man again. Oliver spat blood on Ra's shoes, and he hit him again and said, "Boy, I will teach you to obey. If I torture you long enough, not only will you obey, you will beg to obey me."

He fought the chains, as he screamed at him. All his charade was done now, all that left was his dark fury at this injustice. "I will die first. I will make you kill me this time. I will hold out until you end my misery."

Ra's stared him hard in the eyes, then spat the words at him, "Then I will put you in the pit and it will all begin again. The beatings, the torture, the drugs, until you are mine in every part of your soul. I own you, Al Sal-Him. Embrace your destiny. I OWN YOU!"

"I own MYSELF! Damn you to hell, Ra's. I hate you!" He fought the chains hard, cutting his flesh, trying to escape them.

"Yes, hate me, feed that dark side of you. I will make you hate so deeply that you will never know love again. I am going to teach you real hate, for I going to kill everyone you have ever known or met and make you watch. And this time," he pointed at a blonde woman coming their way, "I am going to start with her. I'll make sure she stays dead this time."

His heart plunged when Ra's yelled out to the league, "Give the woman safe passage. I will deal with this myself."

Then in a voice, meant just for him, Ra's said, "I warned you what would happen if I had to teach you another lesson. This time I will beat her to death before your very eyes."

Oliver screamed in real pain, as he fought the chains. "NO," he screamed when he saw Felicity walking calmly toward them, through the league, like Moses parting the water, the dark soldiers just let her pass, and he had no hope, no hope at all that he could stop Ra's from hurting her, from killing her this time. Where was Barry or anyone that could help when he needed them?

"Hold him, don't let him look away." Ra's told the two men behind him. "I want him to watch."

One of the men grabbed his hair and held his head, so he was forced to watch. He fought them and the chains. The pain of what was about to happen was over whelming him, constricting his chest for he knew Ra's was going to do more that blacken her eye this time, and he couldn't save her this time either.

No, he was helpless.

"Run, Felicity," he yelled, as Ra's waited for her to come closer, and he earned another slap in the face. "Damn you to hell, Ra's. Don't you dare touch her. I swear I'll find a way to kill you. I will never stop trying to kill you. I swear it."

"I warned you that love is weakness, but I will destroy that love yet. Yes, Felicity," Ra's said in a sweet voice, as he motioned her closer. "Come here, child. I have another lesson to teach Al Sal-Him that requires your assistance."

She stopped just out of Ra's reach and said, "No, I think I will teach you a lesson this time, Ra's Al Ghul." In a flash, she pulled a small handgun out her pocket and said, "It's called welcome to the 21st century."

Then Felicity shot him.

Oliver had never been more shocked or more proud of her in his life, though it was a shame, she wasn't a better aim, as the bullet only struck Ra's in the shoulder, driving him backward, but not killing him.

With a look of pure disbelief, Ra's recovered with a roar and screamed, "How dare you shoot me?" The wonder of her brave act, and pure disbelief came out in Ra's words, "How dare you shoot me with a gun?"

Ra's stepped toward her, and she shot at him again but this time Ra's reflected the bullets with his sword and each shot missed him.

Oliver's heart flipped over. He had thought for an instant that he had a chance to escape his doom, though he would have never believed Felicity could harm anyone let alone kill Ra's. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought, but he was really proud of her for trying to kill Ra's to save him.

Felicity emptied the clip, shooting her last bullet, when an arrow suddenly flew over her right shoulder, and while Ra's reflected her bullet, he couldn't stop the arrow too, and Oliver watched in disbelief as the arrow plunged deep into Ra's chest.

Another arrow followed, flying through his wrist and another knocking Ra's sword from his hand. Then yet another plunged in his chest. With clear disbelief written on Ra's, and no doubt his face, Oliver watched Ra's clutch at the arrows in his chest. Managing to pull one out, Ra's threw the arrow to the ground. But two arrows remained in his chest and the blood poured out of him.

"You!" Ra's screamed, as he clawed at the other arrows in his chest. "I knew I should have killed you the first time. You dare to try to take the life that saved you? I should have never have saved you even for Al Sal-Him."

Oliver now looked up in disbelief as his sister, Thea, came around Felicity and stood tall in Roy's red suit holding a bow, arrow notched and screamed at Ra's, "His name is Oliver Queen, and he is my brother, and YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM." 

Then his sweet, bad ass sister, put an arrow through Ra's throat, and he had never loved her more. She finished with the words, "And that one is for killing me the first time and leaving me to bleed out."

Ra's face crumbled and he collapsed, and this time it was him that was bleeding out onto the pavement, as his heart pumped out his life giving blood from his chest and his throat. And no one from the league moved, as Ra's breathed his final breath and went still.

Oliver stood for an instant as shocked as the rest, then he barked orders. "Release me. Release my friends. Ra's is dead. I am the heir to the demon. I am now the Ra's Al Ghul. Release me NOW! This battle is over. Put away your weapons. Return to your homes until I call you."

The men rushed to release him, and Oliver suddenly realized that the two women he loved the most had just risked everything for him, even though they were so angry with him, they had just saved him, and he could come home. He could really come home.

Ra's threat was now gone, and he was FREE of Ra's stronghold, free to live his life, free to love, and he thought his heart would explode when both Felicity and Thea ran to him to engulf him with their arms. Hugging them hard, he hugged them like he would never let them go.

A few minutes later Diggle, Merlyn and the rest had made their way to them, and he released them and shook hands with his friends.

He had to smile when he heard Diggle asked Felicity, "What were you thinking? I told you NO BULLETS."

"Well it worked for Indiana Jones. Remember the scene with the sword guy?" she said, patting the handgun in her pocket.

And everyone but him laughed and it was such a wonderful sound, as it filled the air.

However, that was one movie even he had seen, so he smiled with them. Carefully, he reached out for her, and though she hesitated slightly, Felicity allowed him to take her hand and he said, "Thank you for coming for me. You and Thea saved my life. Ra's was never going to let me go. It makes me love you even more."

"I told you that I couldn't leave you. I told you I didn't want to leave you." She smiled her soul warming, light filled smile up at him and said, "And you're welcome, though you're not out of trouble yet, just wait, you have a lot of explaining to do."

He couldn't stop himself, he pulled her to him and kissed her soundly in front of everyone, silencing her, and not caring who knew he loved her.

Suddenly, Barry, the Flash, appeared before them, and Oliver broke the kiss and really smiled when Barry said, "What did I miss? My bad?"

And everyone laughed and this time he actually laughed with them.

#####OQ#####

The End but no the beginning of Oliver and Felicity's real normal life. This story continues with "Normal Life is Hard for Oliver and Felicity."  I welcome you to continue the journey. And as always thanks for the read.


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